SOLVE
As a university, we have a responsibility to communicate what we are learning.
Only by sharing our knowledge will we succeed as a community and as a nation. That's why we're producing SOLVE magazine – to share as scientists and educators our research and knowledge-building that stand to make a difference to the world.
Introducing the current issue
In this second issue of SOLVE, we shine a spotlight on the wealth of actionable research happening at the University of Portsmouth. You'll find a strong focus on research relating to matters of health and wellbeing, space, sustainability, risk and security.
Read about a wide variety of great projects with real social purpose. From creating theatre with veterans of the armed forces, to using satellite data to help an island community respond in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane, you'll see that Portsmouth brings innovative ideas and humanitarian concern to our research.
Discover how we've helped shape responses to the coronavirus pandemic, furthered humankind’s understanding of our place in the Universe, encouraged a more sustainable approach to fashion, used Virtual Reality to better understand real crime – and a lot more besides. I am thrilled by how much research at Portsmouth demonstrates both intellectual depth as well as generosity of spirit.
Who knows what our lives will look like later this year? What’s certain is that Portsmouth’s researchers will be playing their part in helping to solve problems, improve our lives and shape a better world.
Professor Graham Galbraith
Vice-Chancellor, University of Portsmouth
Health and Wellbeing
> Read Health and Wellbeing features in SOLVE
We're seeking to manage health, disease and disability through technological, creative and scientific developments that tangibly support physical and mental wellbeing.
In this issue of SOLVE, you'll meet extraordinary people whose ingenuity and services to humanity are inspiring – from restoring physical mobility and mental wellbeing to lives upended by accident or disease, through to creatively using theatre to help returned service men and women manage the emotional wounds inflicted in today’s conflict zones.
- The mechanics of wellness – Professor Gordon Blunn
- Virus versus human ingenuity – Dr John Leach, Dr Emma Maynard, Dr Adam Cox, Dr Sam Robson, Dr Simon Kolstoe
- From frontlines to footlights – Dr Emma Maynard
- Lifesaver in a lab coat – Professor Mike Tipton
- Reaching out to children in limbo – Dr Wendy Sims-Scouten
- Slacktivism flexes its political muscle – Professor James Dennis
Sustainability
> Read Sustainability features in SOLVE
The world is facing a tipping point in the relationship between people and nature that threatens planetary health and human wellbeing. Change is inevitable. The role of science and education is to ensure necessary economic and environmental transitions are positive.
Our research into reducing plastic waste is a benchmark for this worldwide effort. Similarly, resources sustainability is at the core of our research into less obvious, but just as damaging, activity such as the colossal waste in the world’s fashion industries.
- From rags to environmental riches – Dr Elaine Igoe
- Pandemic spills into ocean health – Professor Steve Fletcher
Space
> Read Space features in SOLVE
It is quintessentially human to gaze into a night sky and wonder. It reflects why the human experience has been a journey of endless discovery about ourselves, our planet and what we must do to nurture it.
The research featured in this issue of SOLVE starts from the frontier of astrophysics, delivering new insights into the cosmos and our place in it, through to the use of space tools such as satellites for delivering fast, effective disaster response in developing countries.
- How I wonder what you are – Dr Laura Nuttall
- Model of light – Professor Claudia Maraston
- Space technology helping earthlings to survive – Professor Richard Teeuw
- Messages from time – Dr James Darling
Risk and Security
> Read Risk and Security features in SOLVE
The modern world presents countless security challenges – from physical and electronic security of individuals, organisations and societies, to food safety and security, and military drone use.
Discover how our work is using new insights and methods to solve crime, tackle these threats and reduce the devastating impact of natural disasters on communities around the world.
- Data detective puts information to work – Professor Mark Xu
- The science of questions that cut to the chase – Professor Becky Milne
- Justice takes a memory trip – Professor Lorraine Hope
- Lessening the risk of nature’s fury – Dr Carmen Solana
- Criminals open up to a VR show-and-tell – Professor Claire Nee
Read the previous issue
If you enjoyed reading the current issue of SOLVE, take a look at our previous issue for stories about world-leading advances towards solving major environmental challengers on land and at sea and our acclaimed gender research that introduces functional, positive change through innovative tools, processes, programmes and mindsets.
