Postgraduate students at The University of Nottingham are encouraged to push both the boundaries and themselves – and 50 of the very best research projects are being exhibited as part of this year's Postgraduate Research Showcase.
The free event at University Park on Thursday 14 June gives members of the public and potential employers the opportunity to meet the student researchers and talk to them about their research and its real world applications.
From poetry and Parkinson’s Disease through to Malaysia’s use of the death penalty and a project to develop a safe fuel tank for hydrogen powered cars, there will be presentations by postgraduate students from across the University’s many departments and faculties.
And it’s not just students from the University’s UK campuses getting involved – finalists from
The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) will present their research via video-conference.
World-class research
Dr Rachael Pearson, Researcher Development Manager in the University’s Graduate School, relishes this annual opportunity to show off the broad ranging research postgraduate students at the University are undertaking.
She said: “We hold this event to give research students an opportunity to engage the public with their research, and to give all interested parties the opportunity to find out about the latest research and innovations from the University.
“As one of the leading research institutions in the UK, The University of Nottingham is renowned for its world-class research. Our large community of postgraduate researchers, from a range of disciplines, contribute significantly to this reputation.”
The research projects will be judged by a panel made up of members of the public and non-academic University staff. The showcase is being held in the new £10m Science and Engineering Learning Centre on University Park Campus.
Come feel the noise
PhD student Robert Mackinnon is going to be on hand to explain his research into the dangers of listening to loud music as part of a study by the National Biomedical Research Unit in Hearing (NBRUH).
Robert said: “The new internet-based hearing test developed at NBRUH is optimised to detect the type of hearing loss we would expect to be caused by being exposed to loud noise.
“In conjunction with the music-exposure questionnaire using technology that has never been used online before, this study is groundbreaking both in its methodology and in the data it will provide to save future generations of music listeners from avoidable hearing loss.”
The mother-child bond
Emma Katz is a researcher in the University’s School of Sociology and Social Policy. She will be at the research showcase to present her work into domestic violence – and the hidden ways that mums and children support each other and rebuild new lives.
She said: “These children and mums often name each other as their most important source of support. Far from breaking down, mother-child relationships can play an important role in surviving domestic violence.”
Emma’s research data comes from interviews with 20 mothers and children ages ten to 19.
Obesity-related liver damage
Can a strict two-week diet improve the health of your liver? A piece of postgraduate research at the University is aiming to answer this question in the hope of preventing liver damage in the future.
The study looks at what happens to the liver during a very strict diet for a fortnight – just 800 calories per day.
PhD student Emma Baldry is conducting the research, she said: “This work should help to identify what happens to your liver on a short-term very strict diet, and support ongoing effort to curb obesity-related liver disease.”
Come along
Visitors are welcome to attend the Postgraduate Research Showcase from 12.45 to 3pm in the new Engineering and Science Learning Centre on University Park Campus.
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Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham, described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university’, has 42,000 students at award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It is also the most popular university in the UK by 2012 application numbers, and ‘the world’s greenest university’. It is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings.
More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise. The University aims to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, and health. The University won a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2011, for its research into global food security.
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