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Research by Alison McConnell and colleagues has underpinned the creation of a new category of exercise training and rehabilitation; "breathing training" improves exercise tolerance and reduces perceived exertion. McConnell invented the market-leading POWERbreathe® breathing trainer, and since joining Brunel (2000), has led further new product developments via Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) and consultancy. Research by McConnell and her team underpins marketing by POWERbreathe® and several "copycat" products serving UK and overseas markets. Impacts include: 1. physiological benefits to individual users globally, from elite athletes to patients; and 2. commercial benefits to POWERbreathe International Ltd., its supply chain, and to new international businesses serving the breathing training market created by POWERbreathe®.
Innovative algorithms to support the evaluation of gold immunochromomatographic assays have been applied in a test strip as part of medical devices to test for Down's syndrome and Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI). The device has been used in China, with a total of over 4500 patients having used it in two city hospitals and in five county hospitals. The impact of the research has been to allow faster, cheaper and more accurate diagnosis. This has led to estimated savings of £10 per patient per test and improved accuracy of 9% across the period 2009-2012, compared to the use of the previously applied tests.
Drawing on his research in the area of music and physical activity, Dr Costas Karageorghis was invited to serve as a scientific advisor for a groundbreaking series of musically-accompanied running events held annually in London. Run to the Beat™ is a unique concept in that the half-marathon course was lined with music stations delivering output based on the scientific research led by Dr Karageorghis at Brunel over the last two decades. Ultimately, Run to the Beat garnered considerable economic benefits in the health, entertainment, charitable, and technology sectors, and represented a knowledge transfer that reached tens of millions across the world through internet, television, radio, and print-media channels.
While indexes exist that measure the maturity of the provision of eGovernment services from the government perspective (e.g. UN eGovernment Development Index, http://unpan3.un.org/egovkb/global_reports/12report.htm), there are no reliable standards that incorporate the citizen perspective into benchmarking of government effectiveness. Brunel research has included both government and citizen assessments and, through a more holistic approach to eGovernment evaluation, has helped Turkey and other governments to improve their e-government services.
EU funded CEES (Citizen-Oriented Evaluation of e-government Services) project delivered a new evaluation model, called COBRA (Cost, Opportunity, Benefit, Risk Analysis), for benchmarking e-government services from the citizens' perspective. CEES led to COBRA's adoption by Turksat, the Turkish central e-government service provider which has 12 million citizen users — leading to e-government service improvement and more favourable citizen attitudes. E-government service providers such as ictQATAR and OMSAR (Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform) have adopted the COBRA framework to evaluate and improve their e-government services in Qatar and Lebanon respectively. COBRA has also been used in UK and Estonia leading to similar outcomes.
This research outcome enabled the launch of a new project, called I-MEET, that is extending the COBRA framework to include governments' perspectives and is being applied to Qatar, Lebanon and the UK.
Combatting bullying in schools, and more especially the bullying of minority groups, is a priority both nationally and internationally. Prof Rivers' research on homophobic bullying and bystander wellbeing has directly influenced the development of school-based intervention programmes, teacher education, and government policy in the US, Australia, Canada, and UK. It has been cited widely by policy makers internationally and has been used as evidence of the need to develop and promote anti-bullying initiatives.
ARTICULATED HEAD (2010-) and EAR ON ARM (2006-) reflect interconnected but different projects within Stelarc's research into alternate anatomical architectures. The ARTICULATED HEAD is the robotic embodiment of Stelarc's Prosthetic Head, a conversational agent that speaks to the person who interrogates it. It was a finalist for the Australian Engineering Excellence Awards 2010 and was exhibited at Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, for two years from January 2011, attracting an estimated 1.8 million visitors.
EAR ON ARM is the first instance of an artist having an ear surgically constructed and cell-grown on his arm and has been disseminated globally through museum, festival, and media representations. In 2010 EAR ON ARM was awarded the Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica.
Within the art and medical communities, both projects have been acknowledged as pioneering innovations in the conceptualisation and realisation of biotechnological and engineering-based art and media attention for the projects has brought the research to a worldwide public.
Since 2006 Professor Christopher Fox has been engaged in a series of linked projects which explore ways in which the engagement of performers and listeners in texted music for vocal ensemble can be enhanced. The research was initially based on received understandings of the perceptible relationship between music and text but, as the project and its impact have developed, the research has extended into a collaborative scientific study of this relationship, funded by two successive awards from the Wellcome Trust. Each stage of the research has been extensively disseminated through public performance, broadcast, recording, print and on-line media and the impact of the research now reaches into a wide range of communities of interest and the general public.
Hundreds of synthetic chemicals contaminate our food and water. Brunel's research shows harmful cumulative cocktail effects of low levels of contaminants in food and water, previously thought to be safe. The active translation of these results into European chemicals legislation also ensured a sound basis for including multiple chemical exposures in risk assessment. By working with the European Food Safety Authority, we demonstrated a viable approach to grouping chemicals for mixtures risk assessment. Based on our research, a totally new approach to grouping chemicals for mixtures risk assessment has been decided. This will influence maximum residue levels for toxic pesticides in food in Europe leading to better protection of consumers against the increased risks of harm due to multiple pesticide residues present in the majority of food items.
Olowofoyeku's research on judicial accountability challenges long-established norms in the Anglo- American legal traditions. These challenges have been recognised by judicial authorities at the highest levels and have influenced and informed practitioner and judicial debates on the matter. While no changes have yet been made to the law as a result of this research, the limits of the current principles, as highlighted in Olowofoyeku's research, particularly in respect of the flaws of the common law construct of the informed observer, have been confronted and recognised by judges in their decisions, and also by practitioners.
A 14 month research project funded by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has informed national policy on allergens and food labelling, EU negotiations by DEFRA on Food Information Regulation and Food Standards Agency advice to industry. The project involved the development of a novel method for eliciting consumer views about food labels, the details of which have been communicated by the FSA to relevant government departments. The results of the project have been presented to FSA, at industry events, within academia and allergy charities, while references to the project have been widely circulated on social media and appear on policy and industry websites.