Knowledge Exchange at the University of West London

A new study being led by the University of West London’s (UWL) Professor of Microbiology, Professor Hermine Mkrtchyan, will explore using UK-grown seaweed - dulse (Palmaria palmata), as an alternative animal feedstuff to reduce the country’s reliance on soya bean meal.

The two-year project, which has received six-figure funding from Innovate UK and Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), will assess the feasibility of cultivating dulse either in tanks or at sea to identify the best route to successful, cost-effective production, initially as chicken feed.

Professor Mkrtchyan and UWL will be partnering with a consortium of industry partners including Seaweed Generation Ltd, CIELivestock Ltd and Microgrow systems ltd. Professor Mkrtchyan explains:

This was a highly competitive funding call and we are delighted to have secured funding with assistance from our partners and the Knowledge Exchange team. I hope the next steps from this project will include outputs that support our exploitation plan and introduce innovative solutions to our primary UK target market of seaweed-based protein animal feed.”

In a UK first, project partner biotechnology company SeaGen will develop an automated seaweed cultivation system in Scotland, designed to produce an alternative protein source for poultry feed.

The project is not only looking to reduce the carbon footprint of animal feed and associated greenhouse gas production, it also aims to tackle livestock’s antibiotic resistance and reduce the number of pathogens present in the meat produced.

Professor Mkrtchyan explains:

UWL will perform analysis of microbiome samples from chicks being fed on seaweed and compare them with those fed on soya. The idea is to reduce bacteria and improve biosecurity, meaning less infection risk from things like salmonella being transferred from farm to fork.”

Replacing soya has other potential health benefits because it makes chickens fatter, something that is then passed on to humans when they eat the meat.

Academic Dr Anil Padhra has secured funding from the ‘Future flight challenge’ by Innovate UK, who have invested in projects that will close aviation industry skills gaps. The aim of this competition is to create and deliver course content and materials that will support skills, talent and training across the future flight sector. The purpose of this is to build awareness of future flight emerging markets and fill key gaps in the UK's workforce talent and training capabilities.

Projects can deliver undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing professional development (CPD) courses, which Dr Anil Padhra has successfully proposed through project FLAME: Future Leaders for Advanced Air Mobility Excellence. Having secured £50k for the project, Dr Padhra explains:

The funding enables UWL to develop a unique master's course, with significant industry input, so that we can help to close the skills gap in this important and exciting sector of aviation in advanced air mobility. UWL is proud to be part of the UK’s effort to become a world-leader in unmanned aerial vehicles and the associated infrastructure. The expertise of the university’s knowledge exchange team was invaluable in strengthening our proposal and helping to secure the funding.”

School of Computing and Engineering researcher Dr Waqar Asif has secured Knowledge Exchange funding for Innovate UK CyberASAP Series 7.

The CyberASAP Programme 2023 is open to all UK universities, offering an excellent opportunity for academic teams to accelerate their cybersecurity innovations from research to market.

The programme is designed to support projects with a viable commercial route for their research, offering intensive training and support throughout the process. Dr Waqar Asif has been successful with project proposal ‘IoT Armor: An IoT Secure-by-Default Educational Toolkit’. Securing £60k of initial funding Dr Waqar Asif explains:

In the interconnected realm of Internet of Things (IoT), Security-by-Default is not a luxury but an imperative need. Identifying the eminent nature of the issue, InnovateUK CyberASAP has awarded us with a research and development grant to fill out this void. IoT Armor is an educational toolkit that democratizes the knowledge around Security-by-Default principles for IoT devices thus facilitating the compliance needs laid out in the government's code of practice for consumer IoT devices."

UWL continue a strong partnership with London Borough of Hounslow delivering a joint project from two academic schools as part of a Regeneration project for Feltham Green Cabin.

The Claude Littner Business School (CLBS) is supporting The Friends Group to prepare a business and activation plan and detailed management plan to ensure the Feltham Green Cabin can be run in a way that is financially sustainable and addresses diversity, equality and inclusion as well as achieving the ambitions of the groups of activating the town centre and the Green and providing a dynamic space for the whole community. 

At the same time, the School of Computing and Engineering will provide the solution and work on the development of an online booking system and keyless access to the Cabin with door code at Feltham Regeneration project as a service to Hounslow Council. The lock for the Cabin will need to link with the online booking system with a payment system which will aim to enable keyless access to the Cabin with a door code.

We are very excited to be delivering part of this knowledge exchange regeneration project for Feltham Green Cabin, working with The Friends Group and Hounslow Council. This is an excellent opportunity for our student/graduate project assistants to apply their knowledge and skills, and creative ideas to help regenerate our local community and for CLBS to add to our contribution in helping propel growth and development of our local business as well as not-for-profit community."

- Dr Amelia Au-Yeung, Dean of Claude Littner Business School.

This is a fantastic example of a collaborative project between local government and our university partner. We are thrilled and grateful to have the support of the University of West London, and in particular friends from the Claude Littner Business School and School of Computing and Engineering for this important regeneration work in Hounslow. Our residents really appreciate the professional support from you, their local university.”

Professor Wei Jie and Dr Fateme Dinmohammadi from the School of Computing and Engineering along with industry partner Turing Intelligence Technology Ltd (TurinTech) have been awarded Innovate UK Grant funding for a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP).

Prof. Jie and Dr Dinmohammadi will partner with TurinTech for a Digital Technology project lasting 18 months thanks to a £162k award from Innovate UK. The project will aim to improve TurinTech's automated machine learning model development platform, evoML, by incorporating ensemble modelling features into the tool to provide access to cutting-edge AI technologies to wider audiences.

In this project, the company, TurinTech aims to foster a collaborative partnership with the University of West London, to leverage their domain-specific expertise to enhance the ensemble modelling capabilities of the evoML platform commercialised by TurinTech. The primary objective is to facilitate the effective transfer of ensemble modelling expertise, ultimately augmenting the platform's functionality and capacity. Furthermore, novel frameworks for explainable rule-based ensemble algorithms will be developed and implemented to improve the functionality of evoML.

The innovation of this project lies in developing and implementing ensemble machine learning models to improve the overall performance of evoML. Although there are other providers in the market utilising ensemble modelling techniques, these approaches often involve exhaustive exploration to identify the most suitable technique. To tackle these challenges, this project aims to develop a smart engine that intelligently discerns the most optimal ensemble modelling techniques set, streamlining the selection process to enhance efficiency and accuracy of results.

Developing short course in Emotion Regulation for Teachers

Dr Linda Dinc led a KE project to design and pilot a continuing professional development course for teachers in the local community. The course aims to improve the skills of teachers in supporting students in the classroom better. This was initially piloted to 25 representatives (headteachers, teachers,  wellbeing leads) from many schools mostly in Hounslow and Ealing and some from further boroughs. The project was recently recognised by the Purpose Coalition as a national exemplar and used as part of the ‘Raising Standards, Creating Opportunities’ campaign.

Addiction Recovery-Arts Network Launch

This project focuses on the curation and facilitation of a KE event, representing leading UK arts organisations that specialise in arts practices with people in recovery from addiction and associated mental wellbeing issues. External arts industry partners will share examples of how their performance activity can enhance addiction recovery in community settings. Stakeholders from addiction treatment services, social prescribing commissioners and those involved in policymaking will be invited to experience and discuss these practices, culminating in an increased awareness, and launch, of a  recovery-arts network that can be utilised to assist the effective commissioning, and application, of recovery-arts across community wellbeing services.

Industry Partner Feedback:

It was a fantastic day and our orchestra musicians are buzzing from meeting so many interesting people and watching their work…I can really see the value in a network that shares its practices and offers some alternative views on how to do things… Coming together is really important for sustainability and growth. I look forward to watching how the network blossoms and grows."

- Founder and Chief Executive, New Note Orchestra.

Thank you for such a magical day, honestly it was a beautifully thought-out event and the togetherness within recovery arts was tangible and so good for the soul. Amazing to be reconnected with people I’ve worked with across the country, all in one spot!’ 

-  Founder, Edit Sweet film company. 

It was amazing to see so many people in person at the network launch hosted by Cathy so brilliantly last month. One of the values of having a network is that we get to share practice and ask questions that we might be struggling with in our own organisations"

- Artistic Director and CEO of Geese Theatre Company.

Dr Julie Jones, Senior Lecturer in Midwifery at UWL’s College of Health, Nursing and Midwifery delivered a Perinatal Loss Masterclass. This hugely successful event was attended by up to 300 people in-person and online, and those taking part included representatives of key organisations including stillbirth and neonatal death charity SANDS and the NHS. 

The masterclass acted as the launch event for the Perinatal Loss Proficiency Framework that Dr Jones has developed. The Framework is the most comprehensive of its kind to date and will have a significant impact on the health sector, forming the basis for all training for healthcare professionals on perinatal loss. A new module on perinatal loss is also being developed in partnership with SANDS for inclusion in all midwifery courses. The framework is also linked with the National Bereavement Care Pathway which is managed by SANDS. 

Dr Jones presented the Framework to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on baby loss, and as a panel member at the Westminster Insights conference discussing perinatal mental health in relation to perinatal loss.