Researchers' Exhibition Abstracts

Biological Services Facility

Digital Inclusion, Skills and Creativity (DISC) 

The Digital Inclusion, Skills and Creativity (DISC) team offer wide ranging support, consultations and teaching. This includes offering support with digital accessibility (both to support you and your working practices, as well as helping to make your research output more digitally accessible), providing advice and training on gathering, processing and visualising data, guidance on thesis formatting and how to create academic posters. We offer support on a huge range of topics, as covered by our online Practical Guides and Skills Guides. We run training throughout the academic year - you can browse all our researcher specific training on our webpage or also book us to do bespoke training sessions for specific groups, projects and cohorts. DISC also runs a podcast studio, Yorcreate and the Digital Creativity Lab, as well as the associated training and inductions for these. These are open to all  members of the university and are free to use. Please drop by to say hello and find out more!

EDI Research Centre

This stall seeks to introduce researchers at the University of York to the EDI Research Centre. The EDI Research Centre is a 2-year funded project, funded by an Enhancing Research culture grant.

It was developed to:

- Generate research culture change toward prioritising EDI issues throughout the research process

- Improve EDI research practice in relation to minority researcher, minority participant and minority student experiences

- Enhance EDI-related policy (e.g. educate or help reduce inequalities in research such as through decolonisation of research)

- Increase EDI research capacity within research centres and departments across the University of York (e.g. coordinate the embedding of EDI into research ethics processes)

This is reflected in the identification of four key areas that the Research Centre will prioritise:

- Decolonising research 

- Pedagogical research (scholarship and student belonging)

- Dismantling systemic inequalities

- Inclusive research methods and methodologies 

Overall, the Centre's main aims include: 

- Develop a sustainable EDI Advisory Board

- Develop an EDI Research Best Practice framework

- Develop an EDI research network

- Launch and manage an EDI small research funding scheme

- Host an EDI Research Seminar series

Enhancing Research Culture Workshops

Enterprise Works

Enterprise Works believes in the power of enterprise to be a driver for social change. 

Working in collaboration with industry, policymakers, communities and entrepreneurs, we enable research that supports a safer, healthier, and more sustainable society through entrepreneurship. These collaborations enable us to support the development of informed policies that break down barriers and promote a fairer and equal economy for all. 

We support individuals to start, grow and scale their business, with a strong focus on enabling anyone from any community to engage in enterprise. We strongly support the social enterprise sector and are currently leading a regional social value accelerator programme enabling social enterprise sector growth through social procurement, collective action with local anchor institutions on social issues and supporting skills development and new start-ups within the sector.

Our current research projects focus on:

- the needs of female entrepreneurs in York & NY, 

- ethnic Minority Business owners in the Northern Powerhouse Region and 

- the creation of a Meaningful Business network. 

Exploring equitable research support in the Faculty of Social Sciences

Research Project: Exploring equitable research support in the Faculty of Social Sciences: Using mixed-skills support teams to understand and enhance vibrant research cultures

During this six-month project in 2024, which has been funded by Research England’s Enhancing Research Culture fund, we are looking to understand the research support (and team structures) that exists across the various departments, research centres and the School (of Business and Society) in the Faculty of Social Sciences here at UoY, and the kind of research activities/events etc. that take place at that local/departmental level for academic staff and students.

It is very much a collaborative project with each SocSci entity, to learn about their respective research support structures, best practices and bespoke approaches, and the research culture among academic staff and students: We are interested in how research colleagues can be encouraged to engage enthusiastically in the research life of a department/centre and how we can maintain and enhance research activities such as funding applications, engagement in KEI and publication outputs. Ultimately, the project team would like to be able to share best practice with the Faculty and help us to learn from each other.

Fellowships

Meet Dr Sarah Penny, our new Researcher Developer, Fellows. Prospective Fellows - See what support York can offer you with your application. Current Fellows - What would you like to see in the York Fellowship Programme 24/25 to support your career and leadership development? 

Fostering Equitable Interdisciplinary Team Initiatives

The Enhancing Research Culture: Fostering Equitable Interdisciplinary Team Initiatives through Cross-Departmental Research Culture Workshops project was established to deliver a series of events to inspire and enhance awareness of routes that researchers can take to ensure effective public engagement of research. The project initially began in 2022 in the Department of Biology and has since expanded to include team members from across the University with events open to all University of York staff and Postgraduate Research students. 

Previous events we have run cover topics such as outreach, public engagement and evaluation; invention, intellectual property and industry; art/science interface; lab handbooks, shaping and influencing policy; making research open; patient advocacy and caring responsibilities in academia. 

With our aim of inspiring and sharing best practice, we are launching a google site featuring previous recordings of events, case studies and other useful resources. 

Glassblowing (Chemistry)

Many universities have closed their glassblowing workshops. This is an opportunity to see the benefits of having an in house glassblower. The stall will have examples of glass that has been made in house , photos, and tools.

Health Sciences

Our section demonstrates the wide range of topics, research methods, and collaborations undertaken in York Trials Unit, part of the Department of Health Sciences. Work displayed includes: randomised control trials of Behavioural Activation in young people with depression; chair-based yoga for older people with multi-morbidity; and methodological studies related to testing a Bayesian value-based sequential design and the relationship between poor randomisation and bias. Other posters show the value of Studies Within A Trial (SWATs) aimed at testing various aspects of study design to see what works best; a sequence of studies on wound care research; shoulder surgery trials that have changed surgical practice; trials in the community settings such as schools, mosques and criminal justice; and mental health and addiction trials from babies to baby boomers. 

Impact Team

Impact outside of academia is an increasingly important aspect of research. Many researchers are motivated by the possibility of making a difference to the wider world, and research funders are placing more of an emphasis on plans for impact and knowledge exchange in their application processes. Talk to us about the support we have available at York for impact and knowledge exchange related activities, including internal funding, and tell us about what would help you most. 

Internal Funding

IT Services

Visit the Research IT stall to find out how we can help support and enhance your research now and in the future. Learn about how our brand new £2.5 million Viking high performance compute cluster, located in Sweden in a sustainable data centre, can speed up your analysis and allow you to process more data. Find out how you can work with Research Software Engineers who can write and implement bespoke research software for your project. Discover what other facilities, software and tools are available to researchers as well as the training and support that is on offer. You can also find out about some of the amazing projects we've worked on across the university, from space lasers to robots, plasma physics to biological cell identification and mobile apps to VR. 

Open Research (Library)

The Open Research team, based in the Library, provide guidance and training to help you plan, publish, preserve and share your research.

White Rose University Press (WRUP) is a non-profit, open access digital publisher of peer-reviewed academic journals and books, publishing across a wide range of academic disciplines. The press is run jointly by the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York.

Come and talk to us about publishing your work open access, managing your research data, and all things open research.

Quantom Communicaitons Hub

Secure communications within a country the size of the UK can largely be supported by fibre-based networking. However, future international and worldwide secure communications will also require technologies in space. Demonstrations of quantum key distribution (or QKD) for quantum encrypted data transmissions between a satellite and a ground station will therefore provide important first steps, towards practical and commercially viable global secure quantum communications. The Quantum Communications Hub consortium is responding to this challenge by launching its own research mission, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under the auspices of the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme. SPOQC (Satellite Platform for Optical Quantum Communications) is the Quantum Communications Hub’s 12u CubeSat, which will be launched in 2025 to demonstrate in-orbit quantum key distribution from space to the Hub Optical Ground Station (HOGS), to be established at the Heriot-Watt campus near Edinburgh, in Scotland. We will be showcasing models of the nanosatellite, quantum payload and optical ground station. 

Social Research using an Open Source App

Demonstration of an open source app that can be used to carry out experience sampling, so to send out short surveys on a schedule, e.g. 4 times a day for seven days. Poster will also explain the approval process we went through to be able to use this app in our research. 

Stockholm Environment Institute at York (SEI-Y)

Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) is an international research institute that tackles environment and development challenges. We have eight offices across five continents and SEI York is the second-largest of these. 

SEI York staff will be on hand throughout the day to answer any and all questions you have about our organisation and our work. This is your opportunity to have an open and informal conversation with representatives from a globally-recognised research organisation, and we are looking forward to talking with you. We support researchers and research enabling staff from a wide-range of disciplines, so we encourage you to pop over for a chat, regardless of your research area! 

Technician Commitment

The Technician Commitment is a national initiative to improve & promote increased visibility and recognition of technicians in higher education, to improve career development and address the issue of  our aging technical community, highlighting the need for apprenticeships and outreach to promote technicians roles in HE as a career, not just a job.

Visit the team of volunteer technicians to learn about our past successes, our action plan for 2024 to 2026, welcoming any ideas, feedback or input from our academic staff. 

Valuing Voices

Valuing Voices is a project exploring how we can make our research projects more equitable and responsible. This includes considering ways to better value the voices of all our team members, developing more equitable partnerships with researchers and organisations in other countries, and thinking through the unintended consequences of our research. Come and talk to us about how you can get involved in the pilot projects, find out about our training programme or explore our developing Tool for Equitable and Responsible Research. 

Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory

The Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory (WACL) is a collaborative venture between the University of York and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), home to 70 researchers from ten academic groups. Our research focuses on evidence and insight into delivering cleaner air, lower emissions and reduced environmental impacts. Come along to our stall to find out more about our research into the air we breath 

York Air Map

York Air Map (https://yorkairmap.org/) makes air quality information accessible and empowering for cyclists and the wider community via an interactive air pollution map of York. This project has evolved from a collaboration between conceptual artist Clare Nattress and atmospheric scientist Dr Daniel Bryant in 2022 after Clare spent three months collecting air pollution data on her bicycle, with Dan analysing the results. 

The project utilises a Plume Labs Flow 2 sensor which citizen scientists attach the sensor to their bicycles and collect data during daily commutes. The sensor is a small, and cheap air quality device that provides real-time measurements of PM1.0, PM2.5 and PM10 mass concentrations, VOCs and NO2 concentrations. Data can be exported using a phone application for Android and iPhone via Bluetooth which is then visualised on the York Air Map interface for the public to see. 

The aim of the project is to provide an accessible platform that highlights ambient air pollution in York from ground level, revealing recurring air pollution hotspots. 

York JEOL Nanocentre

We’re here to showcase all of the facilities and technology we have in the Photonics and Bio-Inspired Technology research groups at Helix House. One of the main focuses of our groups is biosensing technology. Our research covers aspects ranging from theoretical simulations of photonic structures to nanofabrication of photonic devices, as well as using our devices as biosensors to detect small molecules and proteins.

During our showcase, we will demonstrate how we create our photonic sensors using our well-equipped cleanroom. This cleanroom allows us to employ techniques like e-beam lithography and atomic layer deposition to create incredibly detailed nanostructures. Additionally, we’ll showcase our prototype microfluidic devices, which enable us to easily process biological samples, filter them, and deliver small volumes to our sensors—all on a single chip.

The biosensing technology we’ve developed is versatile. We’ve demonstrated that our technology is suitable for detecting multiple targets, from small molecules and proteins to entire cells and bacteria. We have developed a range of biosensor readout systems, from benchtop devices for laboratory use, to handheld readers, and even industrial-scale detectors for use in manufacturing plants. 

Our research covers a wide range of topics across disciplines. Come along and see our labs and talk to us and we will see what we can offer your research.