The universities of the West Midlands have a track record of supporting our regional partners to deliver the strategic goals of economic prosperity, effective public services and robust, evidence-based policy. Our directory of experts from across our twelve universities enhance relationships with regional partners, allowing the West Midlands Combined Authority, Local Enterprise Partnerships, Local Authorities and other public bodies to tap directly into our wealth of academic and professional knowledge, giving you direct access to experts in priority areas that support economic growth, public service reform and research and intelligence capability for the West Midlands.

Our experts - 641 match your search

Our experts

Virginie Grzelczyk

Lecturer in International Relations, Director of Postgraduate Programmes Politics and International Relations

Expertise:

  • Public service reform: Employment skills

Undergraduate and Postgraduate education and learning skills.

Activity:

  • Research and innovation
  • Education/teaching - undergraduate
  • Education/teaching - postgraduate taught & research

Summary of expertise

Expert in education. Has developed, taught and managed a range of modules and postgraduate programs in the field of political science.

  • v.grzelczyk@aston.ac.uk
  • 01212043600

Antonio Fratini

Lecturer

Expertise:

  • Medical and life sciences

Biomedical engineering : medical instrumentation for monitoring and rehabilitation

Activity:

  • Research and innovation
  • Education/teaching - undergraduate
  • Education/teaching - postgraduate taught & research

Summary of expertise

My research activities fit in the fields of biomedical data (images and signals) processing and medical instrumentation. I have been mainly devoted to the study of musculoskeletal systems and the analysis of physiological states in healthy, injured or diseased subjects. My research involved the investigation on the effect of whole body vibratory stimulation in bone/muscle tissues and the study of concise indicators for the prediction of altered physical conditions as well as biometric application of physiological signatures

  • a.fratini@aston.ac.uk
  • 01212043010

Jun Du

Professor of economics

Expertise:

  • Research & intelligence: Evaluation of interventions

Research and policy on firm productivity, investment, entrepreneurship

Activity:

  • Research and innovation
  • Business engagement (industry, facilities, initiatives etc.)
  • Public service engagement (local authorities, NHS, police etc.)
  • Education/teaching - adult skills
  • Education/teaching - undergraduate
  • Education/teaching - postgraduate taught & research

Summary of expertise

Trained as an economist, I am interested in understanding the driving forces and impediments of economic growth and development, from multi-level dimensions of individuals, firms, industries, regions, governments, and their interplays. Empirically, employing microeconometric tools, I draw main observations from different contexts of emerging countries as well as mature economies. The current focus of my research evolves around the UK productivity puzzle, high growth phenomenon and the local economic policy.

  • j.du@aston.ac.uk
  • 01212043340

Becky Mallaband

Lecturer

Expertise:

  • Environmental technologies

User Centred Design of carbon reduction technology

Activity:

  • Research and innovation
  • Education/teaching - undergraduate
  • Education/teaching - postgraduate taught & research

Summary of expertise

User Centred Design expert. Identifying needs that people have in order to suit their behaviours and lifestyles and then translating this into products/services. This can be applied to any area, but my expertise is particularly focused in domestic energy.

  • @bmallaband
  • b.mallaband@aston.ac.uk
  • 01212043574

Zita Balklava

Lecturer

Expertise:

  • Medical and life sciences

cellular processes and Alzheimer's disease

Activity:

  • Research and innovation
  • Education/teaching - undergraduate
  • Education/teaching - postgraduate taught & research

Summary of expertise

Research into understanding the cause and progression of Alzheimer's disease; developing novel biomarkers for early detection of Alzheimer's disease.

  • z.balklava@aston.ac.uk
  • 01212043967

Christopher Buckingham

Reader in Computer Science

Expertise:

  • Medical and life sciences

Mental health risks and safety management

Activity:

  • Research and innovation
  • Public service engagement (local authorities, NHS, police etc.)
  • Education/teaching - undergraduate
  • Education/teaching - postgraduate taught & research

Summary of expertise

Dr Christopher Buckingham is a cognitive scientist who specialises in building decision support systems that integrate human expertise with machine learning. He developed the GRiST (www.egrist.org) web-based system for understanding and managing risks associated with mental-health problems. It is used in mental health services across the UK, including the NHS.

  • c.d.buckingham@aston.ac.uk
  • 01212043450

Ute Stephan

Professor of Entrepreneurship

Expertise:

  • Skills for growth and employment for all

Social Enterprise (skills, innovation, inclusive growth)

Activity:

  • Research and innovation

Summary of expertise

Expert on social entrepreneurship and mission-led businesses - the use of market-based mechanisms to address societal challenge and a potential source of inclusive growth. Led UK government funded and EU Commission funded research on social enterprise, contributed to OECD and EU policy reports from scaling social enterprises to female-led social enterprises and social enterprises as a source of inclusion and innovation.

  • u.stephan@aston.ac.uk
  • 01212043183

Diego Resende Faria

Lecturer in Computer Science

Expertise:

  • Medical and life sciences

Human-robot interaction and pattern recognition

Activity:

  • Research and innovation

Summary of expertise

Development of intelligent systems towards human-robot interaction and assistive living (e.g. child-robot interaction in pediatric settings and elderly care) resorting to probabilistic approaches for learning, and inference on multi-modal sensory information.

  • fariad@aston.ac.uk
  • 01212044868

Phillip Mizen

Associate Dean Research

Expertise:

  • Skills for growth and employment for all

Youth employment and precarious working

Activity:

  • Research and innovation
  • Civic engagement (third sector, charities etc)
  • Public service engagement (local authorities, NHS, police etc.)
  • Education/teaching - 16-18 year group
  • Education/teaching - apprenticeships

Summary of expertise

Young people leaving full time education and entering the labour market, particularly precarious and insecure forms of working. Has conducted extensive research on transitions to precarious employment and further specialism in the 'gig' economy as it relates to young people. Also research interest in under age working.

  • @phillipmizen@xlpress
  • P.Mizen@Aston.ac.uk
  • 01212043297

Hannah Bartlett

Reader in Optometry

Expertise:

  • Medical and life sciences

Nutrition for ocular health

Activity:

  • Research and innovation
  • Education/teaching - undergraduate
  • Education/teaching - postgraduate taught & research

Summary of expertise

My research portfolio is broadly based around the role of nutrition in ocular disease, but has included the development and evaluation of ophthalmic instrumentation, clinical trials, the development of hand-held technologies for people with low vision, and investigations of the psychology of nutritional behaviour. This range of research has been made possible through my collaborations with engineers, computer scientists, clinicians and health psychologists, and is linked by the aim to impact on the lives of those people living with ocular diseases.

  • @hannahebartlett
  • h.e.bartlett@aston.ac.uk
  • 01212044182