RURU: Using research to evidence policy

The Research Unit for Research Utilisation (RURU) has been shaping how we use research to inform and change policy and practice since 2001. Housed within the Department of Management and led by Dr Vicky Ward, RURU aims to investigate and enhance the use of social science research within policy contexts. In a new phase of … Read more

Recovering waste, recovering voices: recycling and empowerment in Latin America and Scotland

In the movement toward sustainability, recycling, waste, and plastics have assumed major significance in global conversations. But understanding how plastic recycling and waste management can align with people and planet will require more than just ecological and economic analyses – their social dynamics are also a major point of consideration. Dr Patrick O’Hare is a … Read more

Empowering young artists in rural Namibia

Dr Mattia Fumanti, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Anthropology, has built his academic career by forming and sustaining long lasting research relationships in the field. Rooted in his research into post-apartheid political transformations, these have evolved over time into sustained partnerships with people, most notably in Namibia. Building on over twenty years’ ethnographic … Read more

Combining the sciences to tackle health challenges: UTI diagnosis, social science and SLIC

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common infections investigated in clinical settings, affecting more than 404.6 million individuals in 2019. These bacterial infections are usually treated with antibiotics, but a global rise in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has meant that diagnosing and treating UTIs increasingly requires a high level of specificity, in order to … Read more

Shedding light on SolOLED: sustainable materials for OLED displays – and beyond  

Although we interact with them every day, many may not be familiar with what it is that lights up our screens. Organic light-emitting diodes, more widely known as OLEDs, illuminate the digital displays in products like mobile phones, smartwatches, and television screens. For this illumination to be possible, various chemical materials are involved – including … Read more