Loughborough Institute of Advanced Studies Podcast

Emerita Professor Marsha Meskimmon, Former Director of the IAS, delivers our Inaugural IAS Festive Lecture, fully titled "From the Star of Bethlehem to a Cool Yule: Christmas Really Does Come But Once a Year" Having rashly agreed to deliver the first IAS Festive Lecture in the heady months of the summer, I found myself at the start of November wondering where the time had gone. More to the point,...

IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Christopher Todd Minson delivers a seminar on their research - We are now in the “urban century” in which humans are more disconnected from the natural world than previously in human existence. This is having a profound negative impact on our physical and mental health. How do we counter the demands and distractions of a plugged-in life with our mental and physical health? T...

IAS Residential Fellow  Dr Andrea Pérez Fernández  delivers a seminar on their research - This seminar explores three intersections between the normative contributions of 1980s British feminist art historiography and the insights of interwar avant-garde women artists and thinkers in Germany. The focus is on the work of Hannah Höch and Lu Märten. The first intersection concerns the critique of the...

IAS Visiting Fellow  Professor Sébastien Tutenges  delivers a seminar on their research - For two decades, Sébastien Tutenges has conducted ethnographic research in bars, nightclubs, festivals, drug dens, nightlife resorts, and underground dance parties in a quest to answer a fundamental question: Why do people across cultures gather regularly to intoxicate themselves? In this talk, he argues that...

National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) Fellow Dr Vinícius Teixeira Pinto delivers a seminar on their research, fully titled "Democracy on the pitch: an anthropological approach to the politics and activism of Brazilian football supporters." - Brazilian football has undergone significant shifts in its gameplay and its politics in a few years: from its new stadiums, pas...

IAS Visiting Fellow  Dr Mrinal Bachute  delivers a seminar on their research - Urban mobility systems are at a critical inflection point, driven by rapid urbanization, climate imperatives, and the need for equitable access. This talk explores how advanced Artificial Intelligence—particularly Generative AI, Agentic AI, and Graph Neural Networks—can transform urban transport into intelligent, adapti...

IAS Residential Fellow Dr David Braithwaite delivers a seminar on their research - Mathematical reasoning often involves general statements, such as “The sum of any two even numbers is even.” Psychological theory implies that such reasoning should depend critically on knowledge of examples. This hypothesis was tested in a series of studies with university students (not specialized in maths). Stude...

IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Changsheng Wu delivers a seminar on their research - The rapid aging of populations and COVID-19 pandemic have exposed critical healthcare shortcomings. Traditional healthcare remains offline and reactive, with intermittent clinical monitoring. Recent advancements in smart materials, wearables, AI, and IoT enable continuous, personalized digital health solutions. However, ch...

IAS Residential Fellow Dr Bibiana Oliveira Serpa delivers a seminar on their research - This seminar explores how feminist movements mobilize visual storytelling to advance reproductive justice and build transnational solidarities. Drawing on grassroots activism in Latin America and visual archives from the UK and beyond, the session examines how everyday objects, like pañuelos, protest signs, and...

IAS visiting Fellow Professor Oleksandr Dluhopolskyi delivers a seminar on their research - In today’s world, grounded in the principles of inclusion, sustainability, and democracy, increasing attention is being paid to the issue of young people who are not in education, employment, or training (NEETs). This social group is particularly vulnerable to social isolation, poverty, and marginalisation,...

A roundtable discussion as part of the  IAS Spotlight 'Women in Sport'  - Discussants:  Dr Verity Postlethwaite ,  Dr Rebecca Grant ,  Dr Samantha Rowland ,  Dr Hannah Dugdale This closing session brings together the insights, provocations, and priorities emerging from the IAS Spotlight series to co-create a shared vision and actionable next steps. Drawing on themes of governance, leadership, inno...

A roundtable discussion as part of the  IAS Spotlight 'Women in Sport'  - Key Speaker: IAS Visiting Fellow  Professor Deidre McGhee Discussants:  Dr Rebecca Grant ,  Dr Aimee Mears ,  Dr Kelsie Johnson This session explores the critical intersection of breast health, sports bras, and protective innovation, highlighting how medicine and engineering are coming together to support women and girls in...

A roundtable discussion as part of the  IAS Spotlight 'Women in Sport' , fully titled "The Collaborative Ecosystem of Women’s Sport: A Roundtable Discussion on the Conceptualization, Research and Innovation Agenda" - Key Speakers: IAS Visiting Fellows -  Dr Becca Leopkey ,  Dr Dana Lee Ellis ,  Dr Lucy Piggott Discussants:  Dr Verity Postlethwaite   As women’s sport continues to grow in scale, vis...

IAS Residential Fellow  Dr Sara Shaker  delivers a seminar on their research - This seminar examines the role of comic journalism in archiving the Arab Revolutions/Uprisings, with a particular focus on the graphic narratives of Arabic artists like Deena Mohammed, Yazan Al Saadi, Hamid Suleiman, and Rawand Issa. By focusing on the visual artworks of What Factors Make You Insecure?, Lebanon is Burni...

IAS Residential Fellow  Dr Eefje Hendriks  delivers a seminar on their research - Curious about when, where, and how assistance can truly strengthen disaster resilience in the Global South? Eefje Hendriks’ research addresses the urgent need for evidence on reconstruction decisions by vulnerable groups and the wider impact of reconstruction assistance. Reconstruction is often challenged by factors...

Joining Loughborough in 1998, Marsha has been a driving force behind many of the University’s initiatives, including the incredible Institute of Advanced Studies, which she became the Director for in 2018.   The Institute sits at the heart of our research, innovation, and internationalisation strategies, and its evolution and impact are direct reflections of Marsha’s leadership, creativity, and un...

IAS Visiting Fellow  Dr Vickie Shim  delivers a seminar on their research, fully titled "When is the Brain Most at Risk? Predicting Vulnerability After Head Impacts Using Multimodal MRI and Mouthguard Sensors" - How long does the brain remain vulnerable after a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI)? This critical question remains largely unanswered. The current 23-day stand-down period for clinically...

IAS Residential Fellow Associate Professor Cecilia González Tokman delivers a seminar on their research - Random and non-autonomous dynamical systems are flexible mathematical models for the study of complicated systems whose evolution is affected by external factors, such as seasonal influences and random effects. Multiplicative ergodic theory provides fundamental information for the study of tra...

IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Jens Martin Turowski delivers a seminar on their research - The width of channel belts and fluvial valleys and its temporal evolution is important for the hydraulics, hydrology, and ecology of landscapes, and for human activities such as farming, protecting infrastructure, and natural hazard mitigation. The width of a fluvial valley is set by the river undercutting valley wa...

IAS Visiting Fellow Professor Bruno Charbonneau delivers a seminar on their research - Discussions about the consequences of climate change for security have so far emphasized how the climate crisis multiplies security threats or how it might lead to instability and war. They do not consider how war and military operations themselves might change or must change, given the socio-technological trans...

IAS Visiting Fellow Ms Ananya Bhattacharya (UNESCO Global Network of Facilitators) delivers a seminar on their research - Traditional knowledge systems, shaped by generations of ecological coexistence, offer critical insights into sustainability, ethical living, and sustainable resource management. Transmitted through oral traditions, rituals, crafts, and performances, these systems embody values...

IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Carmen Pérez González (UNESCO Chair in Educational Linkage Through International Sports) delivers a seminar on their research -  Traditionally, the international community has not fully recognized the capacity of sports as an enforcement tool within the realm of international law. Despite sporadic instances of sports-related boycotts and sanctions, its complete potential rem...

Returning IAS Alumni Fellow from the 2023-24 academic year,  Dr Yolandi Burger , organises a panel discussion featuring esteemed colleagues  Professor Mike Wilson ,  Dr Robert Harland ,  Dr Taimaz Larimian , and  Melinda Swift . This panel examines the intricate relationship between urban places and the narratives through which they are experienced, remembered, and reimagined. It explores how citi...

IAS Visiting Fellow Professor Peng Zhang delivers a seminar on their research -  Droplet-droplet collision is a fundamental process in both natural phenomena and industrial applications, serving as a microcosm of multi-scale fluid dynamics. This talk unravels the intricate physics governing collision outcomes—coalescence, bouncing, and separation—beginning with the canonical case of identical drop...

IAS Residential Fellow  Dr Andrey V. Ivanov  delivers a seminar on their research - What is an empire? Prior to 1721, the Latin title of “imperator” belonged exclusively to the  Western, Eastern or Holy Roman political entities  This monopoly ended with the Petrine proclamation of the world’s first non-Roman imperium, and later, with similar proclamations by Napoleonic France, Iturbide’s Mexico, B...