Exploring Global Problems

In this episode of Exploring Global Problems, Professor of Law Yvonne McDermott Rees and 2020 Hillary Rodham Clinton Global Challenges Programme scholars Charlotte Morgan and Andrea Stanišić discuss child poverty, environmental human rights, and how social media evidence can be used for accountability for mass human rights violations. Yvonne’s research focuses on international criminal law, human...

In this episode of Exploring Global Problems, Professor Serena Margadonna and our host, Dr Sam Blaxland discuss the role of batteries in the fight against climate change and the need for better batteries for a decarbonised society.   Her work has been inspired by the simple realisation that major advances in modern technology are always driven by the availability of materials which possess a numbe...

More and more young people are choosing to study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects at University but there still exists a gender imbalance when looking at the number of girls choosing to study Physics post-16.   In this episode of Exploring Global Problems, Dr Sarah Roberts and our host, Dr Sam Blaxland discuss the importance of role models and Physics teachers in ma...

Could nanotechnology, the technology as small as viruses, found in your mobile phone, see an end to animal testing? It sounds a bit sci-fi, but Professor Shareen Doak and her team thinks the answer is quite literally in the little things. When we say little we mean tiny, smaller than the width of a human hair.  In this episode, Professor Doak delves into her team’s world of nano-genotoxicology. Th...

The tourism industry has faced many challenges because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also forced the industry to address some difficult questions; from the impact tourism has on sustainability, access to travel to the impact of over-tourism. In this episode of Exploring Global Problems, Dr Maggie Miller and our host, Dr Sam Blaxland discuss the human dimensions of tourism sustainability and the...

In the UK, one person every 90 seconds is admitted to hospital with a suspected brain injury. More than 350,000 people are diagnosed with a brain injury every year in the UK. This has left a legacy of epidemic proportions where 1.3million people now live in the UK with a brain injury, costing the UK economy more than £15billion a year. In the UK and around the world we are living with a “Silent Ep...

Discussing how literature represents environmental issues, including climate change, and the part writers play in engaging the public imagination around alternative ways of being. In this episode of Exploring Global Problems, we’re joined by Lecturer in Contemporary Writing and Digital Cultures Dr Chris Pak, Associate Professor in Modern Languages Dr Lloyd Davies, and Professor in Creativity Owen...

Despite how natural it is to breastfeed, Professor Amy Brown’s research found that in the UK many parents are struggling with how we feed our babies. Many people think it is as simple as making a decision to breastfeed or formula feed their baby. From her own experiences and her research Professor Brown has found that too many parents encounter barriers to their choice to breastfeed.   In this epi...

In this episode of Exploring Global Problems, Professor Tom Crick (Professor of Digital Education & Policy), and Dr Yan Wu (Associate Professor in Media and Communication), examine digital inclusivity. They discuss digital education, including how to become digitally confident and capable citizens in a data-driven and computational world; how digital education supports wider work across the digita...

Professor Ronan Lyons discusses how big data is used to help inform the Government Response to COVID-19.

Welcome to season two of Exploring Global Problems. In this episode, Associate Professor in Politics Dr Matt Wall, Associate Professor in Media and Communication Dr Richard Thomas, and Professor of Politics Jonathan Bradbury discuss their work on political engagement, the internet and public opinion, devolution, and whether reporting of political issues is helping citizens to make informed decisio...

Zoology professor Rory Wilson talks about how his research helps to prevent endangered animals being poached. Rory explains how he tracks the movement of endangered species using electronic tags and how this data is used to protect them. He helps humans and animals to successfully cohabit and analyses the impact of the human environment on animal behaviour. Rory talks about his fascinating work wi...

Professor Lorenzo-Dus’s research focusses on the ‘dark side’ of social media, working to help combat individuals and groups looking to deceive, manipulate, exploit and incite violence.  The research programme that Professor Lorenzo-Dus leads is called Developing Resilience against Online Grooming (DRaOG). She works with a team of linguists, criminologists, computer scientists and in partnership wi...

How could bacteria be used to prevent the spread of malaria or Zika virus? Could this research also be used to treat or even cure cancers? Professor Paul Dyson explains how his research could be the next major advance in cancer treatment to Dr Sam Blaxland in this next instalment of our Exploring Global Problems Podcast.

Currently, there is a massive drive to solve global warming and to minimise the effects waste gases have on the environment. Dr Emily Preedy’s research focuses on using waste Carbon Dioxide to help grow algae to clean up waste fumes from local industry. Emily talks about her work, the many useful properties of algae and the little things we can do to reduce our carbon footprint.

Dr Ian Mabbett talks about SUNRISE, a project which aims to develop new materials for energy generation, storage and use that are integrated into buildings. The project takes ideas from labs into production, ideally locally where needed, then produces buildings that act as energy hubs across India, where 300 million people lack reliable 24/7 power. The work impacts on many of the UN’s Sustainable...

Is exploitative work becoming the new normal? Does the world of work have to be this way? Professor Geraint Harvey of Swansea University's School of Management deliberates new forms of work, which have become known as the gig economy, what they look like and how they impact the worker. Think you know the benefits to the gig economy? Think again.

The World Health Organisation has called it a public health crisis and burn injuries have been described as a “disease of poverty”. In this episode, Consultant Plastic Surgeon and Professor of Human and Health Sciences Tom Potokar discusses his research into burn injuries and his work to improve their care and prevention in conflict environments and poorer parts of the world. Tom talks about worki...

Dr Nigel Pollard discusses his work on the protection of heritage in conflict zones around the world and why it is important from both a moral and philosophical perspective. In this episode of Exploring Global Problems, drawing on his work in places such as Syria, Egypt and Italy, Nigel explains how protecting heritage can help to rebuild communities broken apart by conflict. He talks about the im...

The UK produces 200 million tonnes of waste each year and one quarter of that goes to landfill. The resources that we need are becoming more and more scarce.    Where are we going to get those critical raw materials for things like power generation and medical devices in the future? How do we start designing products so we recycle those resources and not just put them in landfill?   Associate Prof...

From supermarkets to high speed trains, politics to lottery tickets; economics is embedded in all that we do. Dr Simon Rudkin explains how economics isn’t just about maths and money; our happiness in our choices is paramount.

They were known as “legal highs”, and they pose a significant threat to public health. Programme Director for Pharmacy at Swansea Dr Amira Guirguis and Dr Sam Blaxland explore the relationship of vaping to recent deaths in America, and how Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) can be better understood, classified and treated.

How a human-centred approach to digital technology helps to address global problems. Computer Scientist, Professor Matt Jones, discusses his research into street-speaker systems in India and how working with emergent users to design technology makes a real difference to their lives. Matt also talks about a ‘digital darkness’ in terms of privacy, artificial intelligence, the breakdown in face-to-fa...

The world is losing the battle against bacteria and is running out of effective antibiotics…but can maggots save the human race? In this episode, Biomedical Scientist, Professor Yamni Nigam, discusses her research into wounds and antimicrobial resistance. Yamni talks about using maggots to combat the antimicrobial crisis and heal infected wounds while working to overcome the “yuck factor” associat...

Global temperature changes we have experienced in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries are unprecedented in terms of speed, suggesting a real climate emergency. Professor Mary Gagen, of Swansea University’s Geography Department, measures tree ring data – ‘weather stations across the world’. Her research focuses on climate change over the last few thousand years, to determine how our current gl...