Visualise Your Thesis Competition 2023

A novel discovery in my PhD project is our finding that one of the major stress proteins, corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) is expressed in a class of cells that are generally thought to play a supporting role to the main brain nerve cells. These are called glial cells, in particular astrocytes. Up until now, CRH was mainly associated with the function of the nerve cells, or neurons. This suggests that these stress proteins could have a role in diseases associated with impaired astrocyte function, for example brain tumours. We are therefore exploring whether CRH proteins have a wider role in the biology of brain tumours. 

This is a microscopical image showing the expression of astrocytes (pseudo-coloured red) and nerve cells (blue). The green signal shows the expression of the stress protein CRH and its closed association with the astrocytes.

The solid agar medium appears cloudy where the plastic powder is present. 

The holes in the agar are the strategically placed base camps for an enzyme called 611.

The halos, surrounding these wells, are where the enzyme is victorious, breaking down the plastic, resulting in the agar appearing transparent.

The butterfly is just pretty.

What does this mean? 

The extraordinary potential of plastic-degrading enzymes, like 611, are being explored for the biorecycling of plastic waste. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a common plastic used for single use products, has been a challenge for conventional recycling methods. However, these enzymes can target and digest the polyester, breaking it down into its original building blocks and unlocking its true potential for circular recyclability. Imagine a world where plastic waste is no longer a burden but a valuable resource. With the help of plastic-degrading enzymes, like 611, this could one day be a reality.

The contribution of women to science has been largely ignored, thus my research aims to rehabilitate this area in which women were able to exert a significant scientific contribution.

As this image shows, botany, science and culture were inextricably linked, and women were able to participate in all these elements.  I chose to use this crocheted doll, which I made myself, as the theme of my image to emphasise the importance of material culture to both the Victorians and the fern craze. The image represents the four major areas in which ferns permeated the lives of women. Fern specimens were physically hunted in their natural landscape, as well as being kept in the home. Fern hunting expeditions were important excursions in which women could interact with the natural world. They also read about ferns through scientific and popular fern guides, including guides written by women. These popular scientific guides provided an outlet through which women could educate others about science. Finally, ferns permeated textual culture, with fern embroidery patterns popular in ladies’ magazines. 

Invertebrates show considerable potential as sentinel organisms for the monitoring of the health status of aquatic systems. Benthic organisms are abundant, relatively sessile, generally small and readily bioaccumulate toxicants present in their environment. Cardiac responses from these organisms are a useful way of showing the impacts. Traditional methods examining the physiology of decapod crustaceans have used wired approaches which are invasive and logically challenging for environmental toxicology.  

Wearable technologies have advanced substantially in the human fitness and health field and offer huge potential for the monitoring of wildlife. The accuracy and reliability of these devices are being explored through a series of ongoing experiments using temperature and cardio stimulants. The use of these ‘health watches’ will offer the potential into exploring out of lab experiments. Carcinus maenas, the common shore crab, has been used in research for decades and tolerates a wide range of environmental factors. 

 Results so far indicate that fitness watches can detect crab heartbeats through the carapace at rates equivalent to former studies with some clear peaks through handling stress. With this wearable tech, the crabs will have their heart rate monitored over a week with the conditions coming from Langstone Harbour and increased stressors to validate the use of the wireless, non-invasive device. This would allow for advances in invertebrate monitoring without the need to affect them physically and allow for cheaper equipment free of constraints of a computer.

Value is a purely subjective construct and comes in many forms, from value for money (functional value), to value through: relationships or associations with others (social value); positive feelings (emotional value); and knowledge (epistemic value). Data were gathered from students, academic staff and learning developers, and analysed using an 'illuminative evaluation' approach to gain a holistic picture of how LD is experienced. If LD work is framed narrowly, such as study skills instruction, it limits the anticipated value to functional value, which in turn restricts students’ engagement with it. By contrast, widening the framing to position LD as a human-centred third space and embedded element of disciplinary learning unleashes the work’s full spectrum of value and catalyses engagement. Framing affects engagement because of a fifth type of value – ‘conditional value’ – which involves a person considering whether the activity is worth undertaking at all, versus an alternative use of their time.  The thesis leads to a set of recommendations for decision makers at universities on how to frame LD (e.g. name, locate, deploy and advertise it) to maximise its value realisation. 

Her diary is ready to hand in my lap: Dent added in her thoughts most days, reflecting on the latest royal events, her illustrious visitors or her dreams for posterity. Sudeley Castle, underpinning many of these latter interests, is behind me. Dent herself, dressed as fairy godmother to my project, looks on from the garden, like that she re-designed. Her husband lurks in the background, his head poking up from a shrubbery, demonstrating this project’s importance as the Sudeley archive offers us Emma’s voice – a female collector – rather than her husband’s. Like the famous Buss image of Dickens - whose autograph Dent collected - she is surrounded by key celebrities who interested her – Parr whose reburial at Sudeley she helped oversee, Nightingale who corresponded with her, Napoleon III who she saw on her travels. Emma’s first celebrity crush, the Duke of Wellington, bestrides his horse, Copenhagen, part of whose mane is one piece of her celebrity memorabilia. All of this represents different facets of her celebrity interest, as seen in her diaries, her artefact collection and her many autographs.

with the aim of developing a practice that explores how our medical, technologically enframed subjectivity is formed and felt. Charting the situated, relational, embodied and embedded nature of the body as perceived and treated through MRI, my research offers a novel approach to MRI-related art-science practices including insights into novel ways to create art within the laboratory context. By interacting with the physics that makes MRI possible I create art objects as scientific devices offering a materials-led contribution to the realm of aesthetic visualisation of MRI and the body. The philosophical and practical approaches detailed in my thesis increase my sensitivity to what it means to be a body as defined by MRI, expanding my capacity to come to terms with my personal experiences of cancer and medical treatment. I developed a weaving practice as part of an embodied method to investigate how analogue signals in MRI are transformed into digital biomedical images. My woven works are a non-pictorial deconstructive reconfiguration of mathematical phenomena in signal analysis that aim to open the black box of MRI technology.

Prosocial behaviours include being kind, helpful, sharing, cooperating and being trustworthy. My project includes a randomised control trial, focus group interviews with children and an autoethnography, to gain a deeper understanding into this research area.

According to a review of studies published in 2020, the prevalence of UTIs in older adults living in care homes ranged from 3% to 28%, with an incidence rate of 0.9 to 3.6 UTIs per person-year. Women were more likely to develop UTIs than men, and individuals with cognitive impairment, diabetes, or urinary incontinence had a higher risk of UTIs. The use of urinary catheters also increased the risk of UTIs.

Another study published in 2021 reported similar findings, with a prevalence of UTIs ranging from 2.2% to 32.3% among older adults in care homes. The incidence rate of UTIs was 0.8 to 3.6 per person-year, and women had a higher risk than men. The study also found that residents with chronic kidney disease, urinary catheterization, and fecal incontinence had a higher risk of UTIs.

Preventing UTIs in older adults in care homes requires a multifaceted approach that includes strategies such as good hygiene practices, adequate fluid intake, appropriate use of catheters, and timely detection and treatment of UTIs. Additionally, reducing the risk factors associated with UTIs, such as improving management of urinary incontinence and preventing constipation, can also help reduce the incidence of UTIs in this population.

Obesity is widely accepted to be a ‘global problem’ and therefore is the dominant focus of attention in government health policies. Neoliberal weight-centric health policies position individual’s body size as the key determinant of both current, and future, health status. A perceived association with obesity and expensive chronic illness enables governments to frame the consequences of obesity as an economic problem. Consequently the ‘overweight’ and ‘obese’ are subjected to portrayal as an ‘economic burden’, resulting in stigmatisation. This study extends an argument that obesity policies intentionally curate, perpetuate and amplify weight-based stigma to distract citizens from an array of socio-economic causes of ill health and inequalities related to food systems. The associated harms of weight- based stigma and discrimination, are well researched. To explore the less well understood concept of weight-stigma as governmental power tool, this comparative critical policy discourse analysis is triangulated with an examination of individual’s narratives. The research aims are to firstly, understand the impact that UK obesity focussed policy has on the health and wellbeing of citizens from differing intersectional position of inequality. Secondly, to explore how individuals understand weight-centric policy. The objective is to reduce weight-based stigmatisation and improve health outcomes through policy change recommendations.

It demands not to be forgotten and some days no amount of packing will contain it. Often sharing with another helps with the packing and carrying, not because you’re not strong, but because it’s heavy. You cannot just leave it somewhere, it’s part of you now, but that must not prevent you from reorganising the load in order that it is contained and manageable. Supervision, I feel, is like one of those trolleys at the airport. It makes it easier to transport the baggage that you inevitably must bring with you. The wheels can make you wobble in different directions and don’t always feel like trolley is helping, but the sturdy base spreads the load and no matter how difficult the journey, you will manage that baggage to your destination. Perhaps once we arrive, truly arrive, we can finally rest it down and peacefully sit with it.”

The findings of this research suggested that trauma is prevalent in mainstream classrooms and little support is available to teachers tasked with managing it. The researcher posited that a trauma-informed supervision framework would be welcomed in education to address burnout in teachers providing care and education to trauma-affected pupils.

The best theory of gravity we currently have is General Relativity and it predicts that there is a finite number of types of black holes given by a small set of parameters: M (mass), a (rotation) and q (electric charge). To these we can also add Lambda, which refers to the fact that the universe is expanding (also known as dark energy). The image displays in an organised manner all the possible black holes we can construct with these parameters. But, are these really all the black holes that exist in nature? My research involves the search of new types of black holes resulting from theories beyond General Relativity with the use of the observed gravitational waves.