Digital Commons Network^™

Co-Producing Healthcare Guidance For Children And Young People With Ataxia Telangiectasia (A-T) Including The Exploration And Design Of A Home-Based Complex Intervention, Munira Khan

School of Health Professions Theses

This doctoral research aimed to co-produce allied healthcare guidance to improve therapeutic care, self-management, and quality of life for children and young people (CYP) living with ataxia telangiectasia (A-T), a rare and complex neurodegenerative condition. Addressing significant gaps in non-medical care provision, the project was structured into four interrelated work packages (WPs), each contributing original insights and practical tools for families and professionals. WP1 involved a comprehensive scoping review of published and grey literature to map the existing evidence on allied health and nursing management of A-T related symptoms in CYP. The review synthesises 50 sources of evidence and highlighted …

The Revolving Door Of Epilepsy Emergencies, Sarah Lennard

School of Health Professions Theses

This thesis explores the revolving doors of epilepsy emergencies, focusing on the key factors that contribute to repeated attendances at emergency departments (ED) following seizures. The study is based on five peer-reviewed journal articles that provide a comprehensive review of current evidence, risk factors for ED attendance, clinicians' perspectives, and the use of technology in epilepsy management. The research identifies several critical factors influencing ED attendances, including mental health issues, medication adherence, and social determinants such as deprivation and homelessness. The findings highlight the need for integrated care pathways, improved communication between healthcare providers, and targeted interventions for vulnerable populations. …

A Critical Exploration Of Social Transformation Through Occupation, Miranda Cunningham

School of Health Professions Theses

Background: In occupational therapy and occupational science, scholars and practitioners advocate for a stronger focus on social transformation. However, there is limited evidence on how occupation-based interventions contribute to addressing inequalities and fostering change for marginalised populations. Methods: This study applied critical occupational science and realist theoretical frameworks to examine the use of arts-based occupations for social transformation. It comprised three strands: (1) a narrative review of arts-based occupations in social change, (2) a realist review of participatory photography, and (3) a realist evaluation of a socially engaged art group in primary schools. Findings: Arts-based occupations have been employed by …

‘It’S Just So Much Work For Our Little Hands’: Exploring The Multi-Dimensionality Of Pre-School Children’S Lived Experience In Shaping Expressions And Perceptions Of Learning., Sasha Tregenza

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences Theses

This thesis creatively explores the multi-dimensionality of pre-school children's lived experience in shaping expressions and perceptions of learning within Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). Concepts of ECEC practice within England continue to be shaped by the lasting legacies of those regarded as early years ‘pioneers’, alongside theories of child development and an ever-increasing influence of governmental legislation and policy. Pioneers and policy combined, has led to growing emphasis upon school readiness and performativity culture, resulting in repeated and often unchallenged pedagogy within ECEC. This qualitative study draws upon aspects of facet methodology as a research orientation, to disrupt existing …

Written Evidence For Women And Equalities Committee Inquiry Into Female Entrepreneurship, Sarah Preedy

Plymouth Business School

No abstract provided.

Determination Of Titanium Speciation In Consumer Plastics By Raman Microspectroscopy, Johanna Brazard, Takuji B.M. Adachi, Andrew Turner, Montserrat Filella

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

The main component of objects made of plastic is an organic polymer matrix, but plastics also contain a wide range of other chemicals, such as additives, processing aids and unintentionally added substances. At present, the scientific and regulatory communities face challenges due to the lack of access to basic information on their quantity and identity, which is crucial in relation to potential toxicity, management, recycling, environmental fate and resource uses. Moreover, an additional problem is that some additives, such as titanium oxide (TiO₂), can be present in different crystallographic forms, which makes it necessary to characterise not only …

Salinity Controls On Steel Biocorrosion Relevant To The Disposal Of High-Level Radioactive Waste, M. N. Rose, C. Boothman, S. Shaw, K. Morris, D. L. Engelberg, M. T. Bailey, J. R. Lloyd

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

In a geological disposal facility (GDF) for spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste, the canister serves as one of the main engineered barriers. The resistance of the canister to degradation processes such as microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) needs be characterised to support GDF environmental safety cases. Here the impacts of salinity on sulfate-reducing bacterial (SRB) activity and associated MIC were explored in 84-day batch incubations at 30 °C. A 5 % standard bentonite slurry (MX80) in a low-salinity (0.1 g l⁻¹ NaCl) artificial groundwater containing lactate added as an electron donor provided suitable conditions for the proliferation of SRB. …

The Effect Of Deferring Feedback On Rule-Based And Information-Integration Category Learning, Charlotte E.R. Edmunds, Kathryn Carpenter, Andy J. Wills, Fraser Milton

School of Psychology

Previous work has shown that deferring feedback significantly impairs two-dimensional information-integration category learning, often thought to recruit an implicit learning system, but leaves intact unidimensional rule-based learning, commonly assumed to engage an explicit system. These results were taken to support the influential COmpetition between Verbal and Implicit Systems (COVIS) dual-process theory. This conclusion has subsequently been challenged by the finding that this dissociation disappears when the number of relevant dimensions is matched between tasks. However, as well as replacing a unidimensional rule-based task with a two-dimensional conjunction task, a different set of stimuli were used making it unclear which of …

An Immanent Postfoundational Methodology For Researching The Violent Trans-Sections Of Ableism, Classism And Sexism, Elizabeth Done, Cara Baer

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

This paper charts the unfolding of a small-scale qualitative study, presented at institutional ethical approval stage as drawing on posthumanist theorising and seeking to (re)configure the concept of intersectionality, and focusing on the lived experience of postgraduate students of lower socio-economic status with disabilities. The self-selected sample comprised six women, three of whom volunteered accounts of sexual violence that complicated their experiences of dis-ability and class, and highlighted the complexity of their lived experience of intersectionality. We describe a research process in which interviewing became intra-viewing, lived experience came to be understood through Deleuzian and Deleuzo-guattarian concepts and intersectionality became …

Home-Based High-Intensity Interval Training For People With Parkinson’S : The Hiit-Home4parkinson’S Study, Conrad Harpham

School of Health Professions Theses

BackgroundExercise, particularly of high intensity, is considered to be important for people with Parkinson’s (PwP). However, PwP are less active than healthy individuals, and face disease specific and logistical barriers to exercise participation such as lack of outcome expectation, symptom exacerbation, travel logistics due to motor symptoms, expense and perceived lack of time. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a low volume exercise modality, evinced to be beneficial and time efficient for people within various healthy and clinical populations. HIIT therefore, particularly undertaken in the home could be apposite for PwP, although evidence is currently limited. Therefore, this study aimed to …

Patient-Reported Outcomes, Postoperative Pain And Pain Relief After Day Case Surgery (Poppy): Methodology For A Prospective, Multicentre Observational Study*, William M. Hare, Martha Belete, Adam B. Brayne, Harriet Daykin, Matthew Everson, Anna Ratcliffe, Katie Samuel, Lexy Sorrell, Mark Rockett

Peninsula Medical School

Background: In the UK, approximately 70% of surgical procedures are undertaken as day-cases. Little information exists about recovery from day-case surgery, yet international data highlights patients are at risk of developing significant longer-term health problems including chronic post-surgical pain and persistent postoperative opioid use. The Patient-reported Outcomes, Postoperative Pain and pain relief after daY case surgery (POPPY) study was a national prospective multicentre observational study, measuring short- and longer-term patient-reported outcomes, postoperative pain and pain relief after day-case surgery. Methods: This was a collaborative project led by resident anaesthetists under the Research and Audit Federation of Trainees umbrella. Adult day-case …

The Current Clinical Practice And Experiences In Buccal Midazolam Prescribing In Community For Status Epilepticus Termination In The United Kingdom: The Rescue Epilepsy Medication And Training (Remit) Study, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

Background: Epilepsy is one of the commonest neurological conditions worldwide and confers a significant mortality risk, partly driven by status epilepticus (SE). Terminating SE is the goal of pharmaceutical rescue therapies. This survey evaluates UK-based healthcare professionals’ clinical practice and experience in community-based rescue therapy prescribing. Methods: A cross-sectional, 21 item questionnaire composed of Likert-style and free-text based questions was administered online. It was distributed through a non-discriminative snow-balling methodology to members of the Epilepsy Specialist Nurses’ Association (ESNA) and the British International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE). Quantitative analysis used Chi-squared, Fishers’ exact and Mann-Whitney tests. Qualitative data were analysed …

Systematic Review Of Paediatric Sudep And Epilepsy-Related Deaths To Inform A Safety Counselling Checklist For Clinical Practice, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

BackgroundOne in 200 children - in the UK have epilepsy. Approximately, 1 in 1,000 children with epilepsy die yearly from Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), a leading cause of death in epilepsy. Various risk factors contributing to epilepsy mortality particularly SUDEP, some modifiable, have been identified. Structured discussion of risks results in behavioural change that reduces individual risk factors.AimTo investigate and collate risk factors for SUDEP and epilepsy mortality in children to propose a structured communication tool (“Checklist”) for person centred communication.MethodsA Systematic review for children’s epilepsy mortality risk factors was conducted. The search strategy was developed by clinical …

Evidence For Alcohol-Mediated Hemolysis And Erythrophagocytosis, Chaowen Zheng, Siyuan Li, Johannes Mueller, Cheng Chen, Huanran Lyu, Guandou Yuan, Ane Zamalloa, Lissette Adofina, Parthi Srinivasan, Krishna Menon, Nigel Heaton, Stephan Immenschuh, Ines Silva, Vanessa Rausch, Seddik Hammad, Steven Dooley, Shilpa Chokshi, Antonio Riva, Songqing He, Sebastian Mueller

Peninsula Medical School

Alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) is the most common liver disease worldwide; however, its underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we identify ethanol-mediated hemolysis and erythrophagocytosis as major contributors to ALD pathogenesis using both in vitro and in vivo models, as well as surrogate markers such as heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and CD163, a scavenger receptor for hemoglobin-haptoglobin complexes. A key initial observation was the direct optical evidence of serum hemolysis in heavy drinkers, which diminished after one week of alcohol withdrawal. In parallel, soluble CD163 (sCD163) levels declined during alcohol detoxification correlating with liver damage and fibrosis stages. Moreover, red …

How Epilepsy Risks Might Be Introduced And Discussed In Clinical Consultations, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

AbstractAdverse impacts of epilepsy (e.g., injury, depression, and Sudden Unexpected Death from Epilepsy (SUDEP) can be mitigated by factors that patients may control, such as medication adherence, improved sleep and diet, reduced alcohol and taking care around pregnancy. New guidelines state that risk should be discussed at the time of diagnosis but some clinicians express concern about not wanting to raise anxiety.ObjectiveTo explicate practices by which epilepsy expert clinicians broach discussions of risk in specialist epilepsy clinics.Methods24 recordings of initial telephone appointments at specialist clinics where epilepsy is diagnosed from two specialist outpatient epilepsy services in England were subjected to …

From Hospital Discharge To Long-Term Care: Unmet Rehabilitation Needs In Cauda Equina Syndrome Patients From A National Uk Cohort, Uces Collaborators, British Neurosurgical Trainee Research Collaborative, Holly Roy, Krithika Anil, Jack Read, Marcus J. Drake, Ingrid Hoeritzauer, Julie Woodfield

Peninsula Medical School

Objectives: Although long term disability may be a consequence of cauda equina syndrome (CES), the evidence base for the effect of rehabilitation or different rehabilitation strategies is lacking. Our aim was to understand long term neurological deficits (understood as rehabilitation needs) and current rehabilitation provision for patients with CES. Methods: We retrospectively analysed data from a large UK wide cohort of CES patients presenting between 1st June 2018 and 31st May 2019. Rehabilitation referrals and attendance were described, and symptoms at discharge and one year were identified as potential targets for rehabilitation. Results: Physiotherapy was the most common inpatient rehabilitation …

Nitrate And Nitrite Bioavailability In Plasma And Saliva: Their Association With Blood Pressure - A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Raul Bescos, Laura Gallardo-Alfaro, Ammar Ashor, Lucia Rizzolo-Brime, Mario Siervo, Patricia Casas-Agustench

School of Health Professions

In this study, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine plasma and salivary nitrate (NO ₃ ⁻) and nitrite (NO ₂ ⁻) concentrations under resting and fasting conditions in different type of individuals and their association with blood pressure levels. A total of 77 studies, involving 1918 individuals aged 19–74 years (males = 906; females = 1012), which measured plasma and/or salivary NO ₃ ⁻ and NO ₂ ⁻ using the chemiluminescence technique, were included. Mean plasma NO ₃ ⁻ and NO ₂ ⁻ concentrations were 33.9 μmol/L and 158.3 nmol/L, respectively. Subgroup analyses revealed lower …

Vestibular Rehabilitation In Multiple Sclerosis: Randomized Controlled Trial And Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Comparing Customized With Booklet Based Vestibular Rehabilitation For Vestibulopathy, Jonathan Marsden, Rachel Dennett, Jennifer Freeman

School of Health Professions

Background:Vestibular dysfunction occurs in 30% to 70% of cases with multiple sclerosis (MS).Objective:To compare the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a customized vestibular rehabilitation (VR) program with a generic booklet-based VR intervention in people with MS with clinical signs of vestibulopathy.Methods:People with MS and symptoms of vertigo and/or imbalance were screened for vestibulopathy (n = 73). Seventy recruited participants were randomly allocated to a 12-week generic booklet-based home program with telephone support (n = 35) or a 12-week customized VR program (n = 35, 12 face-to-face sessions and a home exercise program). The primary clinical outcome was the Dizziness Handicap Inventory …

Interventions For Promoting Physical Activity In People With Newly Diagnosed Parkinson’S Disease: Scoping Review, Jonathan Gilby, Bridie Kent, Rachel Knight Lozano, Jonathan Marsden

School of Health Professions

Background: There is increasing evidence to suggest that physical activity can slow Parkinson’s progression. There is also increasing interest in non-pharmacological interventions to alleviate Parkinson’s symptoms. This scoping review aimed to map and describe the evidence for interventions that promote physical activity in people with newly diagnosed Parkinson’s. Methods: Studies conducted since 2011, on adults with Parkinson’s (≥ 18 years), investigating the effects of non-pharmacological interventions to promote physical activity and/or exercise were considered. Interventions needed to be conducted in healthcare or healthcare-related settings for people within 5 years of Parkinson’s diagnosis. Published or unpublished full-text articles since 2011 were …

A Preliminary Study On The Role Of Personal History Of Infectious And Parasitic Diseases On Self-Reported Health Across Countries, Gerit Pfuhl, Filipe Prazeres, Marta Kowal, Toivo Aavik, Beatriz Abad-Villaverde, Reza Afhami, Leonardo Aguilar, Grace Akello, Laith Al-Shawaf, Jan Antfolk, Chiemezie S. Atama, Derya Atamturk Duyar, Roberto Baiocco, Sercan Balım, Carlota Batres, Yakhlef Belkacem, Théo Besson, Adam Bode, Merve Boğa, Jordane Boudesseul, Mahmoud Boussena, Hamdaoui Brahim, Nana Burduli, Ali R. Can, Hakan Cetinkaya, Antonio Chirumbolo, Dimitri Chubinidze, Clément Cornec, Bojana M. Dinić, Seda Dural

School of Psychology

Objectives: Infectious diseases are often associated with decline in quality of life. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between personal history of communicable, i.e., infectious and parasitic diseases and self-rated health. Study design: Secondary analysis of a large dataset multi-country observational study. Methods: We used a four-pronged analysis approach to investigate whether personal history of infectious and parasitic diseases is related to self-reported health, measured with a single item. Results: Three of the four analyses found a small positive effect on self-reported health among those reporting a history of pathogen exposure. The meta-analysis found no support …

Mapping Cognition Across Lab And Daily Life Using Experience-Sampling, Louis Chitiz, Bronte Mckeown, Bridget Mulholland, Raven Star Wallace, Ian Goodall-Halliwell, Nerissa Siu Ping Ho, Delali Konu, Giulia Poerio, Jeffrey D. Wammes, Michael Milham, Arno Klein, Beth Jefferies, Robert Leech, Jonathan Smallwood

School of Psychology

The goal of psychological research is to understand behaviour in daily life. Although lab studies provide the control necessary to identify cognitive mechanisms behind behaviour, how these controlled situations generalise to activities in daily life remains unclear. Experience-sampling provides useful descriptions of cognition in the lab and real world and the current study examined how thought patterns generated by multidimensional experience-sampling (mDES) generalise across both contexts. We combined data from five published studies to generate a common ‘thought-space’ using data from the lab and daily life. This space represented data from both lab and daily life in an unbiased manner …

Measuring Variation In Gaze Following Across Communities, Ages, And Individuals: A Showcase Of Tango-Cc (Task For Assessing Individual Differences In Gaze Understanding-Open-Cross-Cultural), Julia Christin Prein, Florian M. Bednarski, Ardain Dzabatou, Michael C. Frank, Annette M.E. Henderson, Josefine Kalbitz, Patricia Kanngiesser, Dilara Keşşafoğlu, Bahar Köymen, Maira V. Manrique-Hernandez, Shirley Magazi, Lizbeth Mújica-Manrique, Julia Ohlendorf, Damilola Olaoba, Wesley R. Pieters, Sarah Pope-Caldwell, Umay Sen, Katie Slocombe, Robert Z. Sparks, Roman Stengelin, Jahnavi Sunderarajan, Kirsten Sutherland, Florence Tusiime, Wilson Vieira, Zhen Zhang, Yufei Zong, Daniel B.M. Haun, Manuel Bohn

School of Psychology

Cross-cultural studies are crucial for investigating the cultural variability and universality of cognitive developmental processes. However, cross-cultural assessment tools in cognition across languages and communities are limited. In this article, we describe a gaze-following task designed to measure basic social cognition across individuals, ages, and communities (the Task for Assessing iNdividual differences in Gaze understanding-Open-Cross-Cultural; TANGO-CC). The task was developed and psychometrically assessed in one cultural setting and, with input of local collaborators, adapted for cross-cultural data collection. Minimal language demands and the web-app implementation allow fast and easy contextual adaptations to each community. TANGO-CC captures individual- and community-level variation …

“No One Told You Life Was Gonna Be This Way”: A Qualitative Exploration Of Friendship Expectations And Reality In University Life, Michael Priestley, Hannah Rachael Slack, Miss Madiha Islam, Delia Fuhrmann, Emily Long, Sarah Crook, Juliet Foster, Sophie Homer, Nicola Byrom

School of Psychology

Introduction: Young adulthood (ages 18–25) is a high-risk period for loneliness, particularly during educational transitions. Loneliness has negative consequences for mental health, physical health, and educational achievement. Psychologists conceptualize loneliness as emerging from a discrepancy between expected and experienced social connection, but this has been under-explored during young adulthood. Method: Drawing on thematic analysis of eight focus groups with 21 young adults in the UK, this paper explores the differences between retrospective expectations and experience of social connection during the transition into university and the implications for loneliness. Results: Whilst social expectations, experiences, and preferences vary considerably, young adults' perception …

Nature Contact And Health Risk Behaviours: Results From An 18 Country Study, Leanne Martin, Mathew P. White, Sabine Pahl, Jon May

School of Psychology

Emerging evidence suggests that residential greenspace is associated with a lower prevalence of health risk behaviours, but it remains unclear whether these effects are generalizable across countries or different types of nature contact. Using representative cross-sectional samples from 18 countries/regions, we examined the associations between two types of nature contact (greenspace, nature visits), current smoking and everyday drinking. After controlling for a range of covariates, greenspace was inversely associated with current smoking and everyday drinking. Visiting natural spaces at least once a week was linked to a lower prevalence of current smoking, but unrelated to everyday drinking. Increasing residential greenspace …

Tactile Kinaesthetic Methods Without Abdominal Pressure Promoting Gastrointestinal Passage In Preterm Infants: A Scoping Review, Natalie Hurst, Jos M. Latour, Christian F. Poets, Christoph E. Schwarz

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Background: Tactile kinaesthetic stimulation (TKS) might support enteral feeding and meconium excretion in preterm infants, but volvulus has been linked to abdominal massage. Aim: To map the evidence and to identify knowledge gaps on TKS in preterm infants. Methods: A scoping review was conducted in August 2024 using four databases. Results: Ten studies (totaling 268 infants weighing 1000–2500g at birth) met inclusion criteria. All studies utilized whole-body TKS, involving stroking and movement with moderate to gentle pressure, administered 1 to 3 times daily by staff. Starting TKS in the first days of life seemed to improve meconium excretion, while later …

“Being Away From Everything”: Exploring The Importance Of Access To Nature For Individuals Living With Chronic Low Back Pain, Alexander Smith, Kayleigh Wyles, Patricia Schofield, Sam Hughes

School of Psychology

Chronic low back pain is a persistent and debilitating condition, and therapeutic outcomes in the long term are generally poor. There is growing evidence to support the ineffectiveness of ‘one-size-fits-all’ pharmacological approaches to pain management. To that end, alternative non-pharmacological therapies such as green social prescribing and time spent in nature are gaining popularity. But it is imperative to understand to what extent these potential interventions are viable by gaining a deeper insight into the lived experiences of the chronic low back pain community. The present qualitative cross-sectional study employed ten semi-structured interviews (9 women, M age = 50.1, M …

A Retrospective Records Review Comparing The Care Of Patients Who Either Avoided Or Were Admitted To An Icu Following A Ward-Based Deterioration Event, J. Ede, H. Pickworth, B. Kent, P. Watkinson, R. Endacott

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Objectives: To identify escalation success factors documented in care records of patients who triggered an Early Warning Score ≥ 7 in the ward, avoided an Intensive Care Unit admission and survived and compare these with ward patients who triggered an Early Warning Score ≥ 7, went to intensive care and died during their admission. Methods: A multi-site, retrospective records review was conducted on 340 survivors and 50 non-survivors who were either admitted to, or who avoided intensive care. Results: Non-survivors of deterioration tended to be older, earlier into their hospital admission, and had a greater number of co-morbidities at the …

Rhce Genotyping Using Next Generation Sequencing:Allele Specific Reference Sequences, Wajnat A. Tounsi, Amr J. Halawani, Kelly A. Sillence, Michele Kiernan, Neil D. Avent, Tracey Madgett

School of Biomedical Sciences

BackgroundThe Rh blood group system (ISBT004) is encoded by two homologous genes, RHD and RHCE. Polymorphism in these two genes gives rise to 56 antigens, which are highly immunogenic and clinically significant. This study extended previous work on the establishment of RHD allele specific reference sequences using next generation sequencing (NGS) with the Ion Personal Genome Machine (Ion PGM) to sequence the complete RHCE gene.Study Design and MethodsGenomic DNA (gDNA) samples (n = 87) from blood donors of different serologically predicted genotypes including R1R1 (DCe/DCe), R2R2 (DcE/DcE), R1R2 (DCe/DcE), R2RZ (DcE/DCE), R1r (DCe/dce), R2r (DcE/dce), R0r (Dce/dce), rr (dce/dce), r'r …

Multiplex Lateral Flow Test Sensitivity And Specificity In Detecting Influenza A, B And Sars-Cov-2 In Adult Patients In A Uk Emergency Department, Rahul Batra, Edward Blandford, Raghavendran Kulasegaran-Shylini, Matthias E Futschik, Abbie Bown, Matthew Catton, Hermione Conti-Frith, Alexandra Alexandridou, Rebecca Gill, Clara Milroy, Sean Harper, Holly Gettings, Maryann Noronha, Hooi-Ling Harrison, Sam Douthwaite, Gaia Nebbia, Paul E Klapper, Sarah Tunkel, Richard Vipond, Susan Hopkins, Tom Fowler

School of Biomedical Sciences

BACKGROUND: Rapid identification of individuals with acute respiratory infections is crucial for preventing nosocomial infections. For rapid diagnosis, especially in EDs, lateral flow devices (LFDs) are a convenient, inexpensive option with a rapid turnaround. Several 'multiplex' LFDs (M-LFDs) now exist, testing for multiple pathogens from a single swab sample. We evaluated the real-world performance of M-LFD versus PCR testing in detecting influenza A, B and SARS-CoV-2) in the ED setting.

METHODS: After preliminary evaluation of an M-LFD (SureScreen) with laboratory-grown virus and PCR-negative clinical samples, it was evaluated in a real-world setting at the ED of St Thomas' Hospital (London, …

Field Learning And Employability In Geography, Earth, And Environmental Sciences, Jacqueline Dohaney, Alison Stokes

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Society needs talented Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) graduates to help address global challenges, but the pathway to professional employment is seldom easy. After graduation, most GEES graduates enter professions requiring broad transferable skills and 'value-added' experiences to thrive in the modern workforce. GEES educators can therefore enhance employability by using field experiences to introduce and develop transferable skills valued by employers. Here, we define employability for our context, explore GEES graduate skills and describe the ways that communication, project management and personal and professional skills can be embedded in field experiences guided by the available literature. We identify …