This proposal revolves around two specific questions: 1) to what extent multidisciplinary strategies to improve energy performance of existing buildings and neighbourhoods can be integrated; and 2) how this integration can bring technology and sustainable redevelopment of existing buildings together. It aims to develop an innovative learning platform for Knowledge Integration in Energy Retrofit (C-mapER) to develop the skills to manage complexity inherent in retrofit projects. An alternative method and an associated platform to evaluate and manage complexity, through a novel application of meaningful learning activities in designing technological solutions for energy retrofit, is the main vehicle.The objectives are to: 1) develop a conceptual framework of the key concepts and relationships that influence Energy Retrofit projects in workpackage 1 (WP1), 2) develop the beta version of the platform (WP2); and 3) test, refine, verify and disseminate the platform (WP3).The ultimate goal is to revolutionalise the traditional approach to educating future professionals, which is currently based on rote learning. This study will deliver an innovative learning platform and approach to develop practitioners who are well-placed to improve the energy performance of existing buildings through inter-disciplinary collaboration. The platform will address the lack of programs dedicated to interdisciplinary education, which helps develop the capacity to transfer information and knowledge between disciplinary boundaries and to deal with the tensions between social, economic, environmental and technological dimensions of sustainability. The outputs can be exploited at different levels within higher education sectors and professional development. By doing so, and in accordance with the main topic of the Marie Curie Individual Fellowship Action, new opportunities for developing the candidate’s career at the international level are created. It is anticipated that this Fellowship will create opportunities for inter-disciplinary teaching both within the host Faculty, across Oxford Brookes University, and beyond. It therefore has the potential to become a showcase exemplifying how research and teaching can be inter-linked.

To develop a novel approach to smart tourism and heritage management through Artificial Intelligence enabled real-time data, to significantly streamline visitor operations and increase visitor satisfaction.

Plant cells are a capable system for producing economically and therapeutically important proteins for a variety of applications, and are considered a safer production system than some existing hosts such as bacteria or yeasts. However, plants do not perform modifications to proteins in the same manner as mammalian cells do, which can have far reaching consequences for their safety and effectiveness. This project aims to genetically modify tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum) to create a plant-based system capable of fully "humanizing" proteins of interest, whilst improving safety of final product. We aim to demonstrate that the mammalian glycosylation enzymes B4GALT1, ST6GAL, GNTIV and GNTV can be expressed in plant cells, and localise to specific cisternae of the Golgi body. In instances where enzymes are more effective within specific cisternae, such as GNTIV & GNTV in the medial-Golgi and ST6GAL & B4GALT1 in the trans-Golgi. We demonstrate strategies to modify localisation to the desired cisternae by use of construct fusions with plant Cytoplasmic-Transmembrane-Stem (CTS) regions. This project addresses key areas of study for the British Biological Research Council (BBSRC) on new strategic approaches to industrial biotechnology. The project would offer an economically viable system for the production of high value renewables and therapeutics in a plant model organism as a low immunogenic alternative to existing systems, developed by fundamental manipulation of plant biology. This project aligns also with the BBSRC priority of 'World Class Underpinning Bioscience' as glycosylation is a critical aspect of cell functionality.

This will be updated once the student has chosen their project.

Rapid urbanisation, growing process of globalisation, and the neoliberal hegemony have culminated in the omnipresence of socio-spatial inequalities at the neighbourhood scale regarding racial segregation, deprivation, stigmatisation, and degradation. European and North American cities, among others, have initiated neighbourhood-oriented urban redevelopment schemes to mitigate the burden of urban injustice. However, there is no integrated framework to evaluate their achievements, the contribution of urban neighbourhoods to just cities has not been systematically investigated. To address this lacuna, the project conceptualises the idea of (un)just neighbourhoods from socio-spatial justice perspective and develops an evaluation framework for measuring key qualities of socio-spatial justice at the neighbourhood scale. The project employs a methodological bricolage approach to address its interdisciplinary nature. It first theorises (un)just neighbourhoods from two perspectives of intra-neighbourhood and inter-neighbourhood socio-spatial justice. It then proposes an integrated framework, consisting of a set of principles, indicators, and measures, for evaluating neighbourhood-oriented redevelopment schemes. Focusing on two neighbourhoods of Bayview-Hunters Point (San Francisco) and Fruitvale (Oakland), the research critically reflects on the constructed storytelling around socio-spatial justice imposed by the local authorities. The proposed evaluation framework is applied to the case study neighbourhoods through intensive fieldwork to explore whether and to what extent the implemented redevelopment schemes have enhanced socio-spatial justice of the neighbourhoods, or re-produced existing socio-spatial injustice, in both process of interventions and their outcomes. Finally, using recent achievements in digital ethnography, the project documents alternative paths and stories towards achieving greater urban justice practiced by the community coalitions and grassroots.