For people living with dementia (PWD) the eventual loss of independence is a certainty. The question is not if, but when PWD will lose independence and need assistance to accomplish even simple tasks. Losing independence causes severe emotional distress to PWD, their families, and friends. It is taxing to the physical and mental health of loved ones who provide unpaid care, and costs the UK economy over £29 billion per year. Our goal is to help people with mild dementia remain independent for as long as possible as we believe it is still possible to live well, and age well, throughout the dementia journey. We know that staying physically active, cognitively stimulated, and socially engaged can keep people with mild dementia independent for longer. With PWD as co-creators, we will take a holistic approach and design video games that promote a balanced lifestyle. Using motion capture technology, the games would promote physical activity, be cognitively stimulating, and can be played socially with others. In the short term, this should delay the point at which PWD lose independence, delay their move into assisted living, and promote general wellbeing. In the long-term, these games could delay or prevent many age-associated clinical disorders, aid clinical professionals in diagnosing and managing diverse conditions, and promote independence and wellbeing in older adults diagnosed with varied clinical conditions. Through the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, these games should reduce all-cause mortality. Together, these outputs will reduce the individual and societal costs associated with loss of independence.

Climate change poses an unprecedented challenge to the way societies operate. In order to address this challenge, the UK has set an ambitious target of 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Meeting this target will require not only decarbonising energy supply, but will also mean action to make the use of energy more efficient and to reduce energy demand. The proposed Centre on Innovation and Energy Demand will contribute to this challenge by developing an interdisciplinary understanding of the emergence, diffusion and impact of low-energy innovations - new technologies, organisational arrangements or modes of behaviour that are expected to improve energy efficiency and/or reduce energy demand. The Centre will be managed within the Sussex Energy Group (SEG) at SPRU, University of Sussex. SEG has a strong international reputation for policy-relevant interdisciplinary research on transitions to sustainable energy systems, focusing on both the supply and demand sides of these systems. Oxford University's Transport Studies Unit (TSU), a leading interdisciplinary research centre on transport futures, will also contribute to the Centre. The Centre's research and user engagement will be organised under three themes that focus on the emergence, diffusion and impact of different types of low-energy innovation. Each theme will encompass several research projects that provide a balanced coverage of research methodologies and empirical domains. The Centre will also conduct cross-cutting projects and integration activities, with the aim of synthesising the emerging findings from the three main research themes and effectively engaging stakeholders. Two cross cutting projects are proposed. The first will carry out a comparison of multiple low energy innovations to explore differences between incremental and radical innovations, and between those that are mainly technical and those that are largely social. The second will analyse synergies and trade-offs between policies to support low energy innovations and other, overlapping energy policies. A Low Energy Innovation Studio will also be established as the engagement hub of the Centre. It will oversee a number of functions including researcher placements in collaborating organisations, Centre workshops and events, visiting fellowships, summer schools and a final conference. The proposed research programme is inter-disciplinary, combining perspectives from different traditions within economics, innovation studies, political science and sociology. The programme will be developed and conducted in collaboration with non-academic organisations who will help identify research problems, contribute resources and case studies, and assist in engagement with practitioners. Centre researchers will collaborate with academic colleagues in the UK as well as with related international institutions. The Centre will produce a range of outputs tailored to different audiences including journal articles, reports and policy briefings. It will have a simple internal management structure, comprising a Director, Centre Manager and three research theme leaders, together with Advisory Group to steer its work. Finally it will develop research capacity by recruiting and developing junior researchers and by encouraging applications from doctoral researchers who would be associated with the Centre.

This doctoral thesis will identify strategic patterns in the response to Black political expression in US prisons, and in particular the penal techniques employed to prevent political organisation. This will seek to fill a distinct gap in literature regarding the suppression of Black imprisoned people's political voices, an issue that remains as prevalent today as at the start of this study. The prison has long been recognised as a significant space for political expression, however historical research has thus far neglected to examine the systematic response of authorities to this. I hypothesize that the state's repression of imprisoned political activists adapted to respond to changes in the methods and focus of protests. State interventions will be traced over the period from 1964-2020, utilising a mixed method approach, beginning with a quantitative analysis of penal techniques and prison demographies, combined with qualitative research using archival and published sources.

DNA damage is caused by both internal DNA damaging agents (like oxygen) that are associated with normal life and by agents from outside our bodies such as sunlight and ionising radiation. The consequences of not repairing the DNA damage caused by these agents is the accumulation of changes in the DNA sequence of individual cells that can reprogram the cell to grow when it should not be growing. Such uncontrolled cell growth is the basis of all cancers. It is therefore important that we understand how cells respond to DNA damage and how they repair such damage. Work using single celled (and thus relatively simple) yeast model organisms has in the past identified many DNA damage response pathways and lead to an understanding of how these function to both repair DNA damage and to prevent cells dividing when their DNA is damaged. By using these easily manipulated yeast model systems, scientists have been able to define many of the fundamental molecular mechanisms used by DNA damage response pathways and to examine these functions in the context of other cellular processes. Importantly, while yeasts are relatively simple, they use very similar ways of dealing with these problems as human cells do. It has become clear that multiple inter-dependent DNA repair and signalling pathways act to prevent mutations occurring and thus help us avoid cancer. In this program of work I propose to study several aspects of how DNA damage response pathways operate to control the production of other proteins in the cell and thus to help the cell tolerate and repair the DNA damage. I also propose to explore how the DNA damage response mechanisms interact with the process of replicating, or copying, the DNA. Accurate DNA replication is as important as DNA repair in preventing mutations. DNA damage response pathways are known to interact with DNA replication to ensure that DNA damage does not result in miscopying (i.e. mutation). I propose to largely use the yeast model systems. However, since many of the proteins and pathways involved are found both in the yeast and in mammals, I propose to extend specific studies into mammalian cells by using the mouse model system.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.