Dame Jessica Corner, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange, has announced five University Beacons of Excellence – leading research areas that will have a far-reaching impact on some of today’s global challenges. The new Beacons stand as exemplars and will be models and drivers of the Nottingham Research Accelerator and its mission to generate funding, drive impact and enhance reputation.
The Beacons of Excellence have been selected with careful consideration, following proposals from 22 research areas. A panel of senior representatives from industry and the academic community assessed the proposals, and selected five Beacons that will solve critically important challenges:
The Rights Lab
Measurement, intervention and evaluation for Human Rights and Social Justice, focusing on ending modern slavery
Nottingham Industrial Biotechnology Institute
Securing a sustainable, low carbon future through integrated biological and chemical technologies
Imaging in Precision Medicine
Using imaging to drive the development of personalised therapies in mental health and other chronic diseases
Propulsion Futures
Developing sustainable materials and systems for greener, electrified transportation
Future Food
Addressing Food security for a changing world
The Beacons of Excellence will receive significant funding from the University from 2017-22, and will help drive the University’s ambitious vision by increasing collaboration, strengthening networks and partnerships, attracting diverse funding, and raising the reputation of our world-changing research.
The Rights Lab is led by colleagues in the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences: Professor Todd Landman (Pro-Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Social Sciences; Beacon Executive Director), Professor Zoe Trodd (American and Canadian Studies; Beacon Managing Director), Professor Kevin Bales (Politics and International Relations; Beacon Research Director) and Professor Aoife Nolan (Law; Beacon Research Director), with 15 initial projects and team members from across all five faculties.
The Rights Lab applies transdisciplinary methods to global challenges, using cutting edge measurement, evidence-based intervention and rigorous evaluation to advance human rights and social justice. Focusing first on ending the enslavement of 46 million people worldwide by 2030—a Sustainable Development Goal target—it will work to understand the full nature and extent of slavery, explain its causes and consequences, design research-led interventions that pilot new approaches to combatting slavery, and monitor and evaluate antislavery efforts. Throughout it advances a series of freedom dividends—the global dividends of ending slavery, including for development, local and national economies, social equality, migrant rights, children’s rights, peace and security, and the environment.
Projects based in Politics and International Relations include work on measuring slavery via the Global Slavery Index, slavery-free cities and communities, the economic freedom dividend, and monitoring and evaluation, led by Kevin Bales, Alison Gardner, Nicole Janz and Todd Landman.
Posted on Friday 27th January 2017