Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

This project brings together University College London, the University of Nottingham, which also hosts the HORIZON Digital Economy Hub, the London Borough of Waltham Forest, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) and Leytonstone Business Improvement District (e11bid) to investigate how the urban experience mediated through connected large screens can be designed to augment real world interactions, support communities, and promote and develop culture so as to maximise the quality of the public experience within the urban realm.This project is inherently cross-disciplinary bringing together methods from Architecture and Computer Science. We will work in 'action research' mode engaging research organisations with the end user communities and Waltham Forest council. We will also engage at a national level through the involvement of CABE and Mike Gibbons, Head of Live Sites (a network of permanent large-scale digital screens across the UK). Through an iterative prototyping methodology we will integrate the content development, placement, local interactivity and distributed connectivity of four re-locatable screen nodes connecting Nottingham with London. This set-up will allow us to explore remote connectivity by comparing two with three and four networked nodes, creating situations and experiences that differ in their urban settings and the types of populations they support through different seasons. The screen content will be compared across different locations, allowing us to identify outcomes that are site-specific and ones that can be generalised across different sites. We will develop the screen content (such as applications and experience) and evaluate mediated public interactions around these screens by engaging with the London Borough of Waltham Forest, the local communities around all four nodes locations, and commissioned artists in definition of the research challenges as well as in the programme of research itself. These creative experiments will, however, be carefully designed to contribute to our research understanding of the dimensions of possibility and acceptance by the community. We will document design, management and public meetings and, as research results are generated, feed research findings back into local and policy debate, and feed forward into the design of the experience and interactions mediated through connected screen technologies. Our research takes a targeted and longitudinal approach in order to understand a complex range of social, technical and interactional issues.

The Cities of Culture Research Network: Turning Evaluation into Policy, brings together representatives of all Cities or Capitals of Culture research and evaluation programmes that have taken place in the UK. Cultural mega-events like the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) and the UK City of Culture (UKCoC) can be effective as catalysts and accelerators for culture-led urban regeneration strategies, through a focused and intensive programme of cultural activities. There are many evaluation studies about the impacts of City of Culture programmes, but they do not explore their medium and long-term effects on a shared UK-wide basis. Furthermore, they are not systematically used for policy development, which is a central issue that this project aims to explore. The proposed research network creates an interdisciplinary space where academics, postgraduate researchers and local, national and international policy makers can pursue a better collective understanding of the Cities of Culture initiative, whilst specifically exploring the conditions and procedures required to create productive links between evaluation and new policy development. The network includes all (European) Capitals, (UK) Cities and (London) Boroughs of Culture projects delivered by cities within the UK. The network will also connect UK researchers with their European counterparts in Aarhus (Denmark) and Galway (Ireland), allowing the network to benefit from insights into culture-led regeneration practices elsewhere in Europe. Network membership will consist of a core group of researchers, evaluation professionals and national and international policy representatives, along with an associate group consisting of academics, local policy makers and other interested bodies. The project will also establish a forum for postgraduate scholars researching the Cities of Culture initiative within partner universities and beyond. The network programme consists of three events. The first is a colloquium, bringing together all network groups to identify challenges, barriers and opportunities for turning collective Cities of Culture research evidence into policy. The second is a two-day specialist workshop where the core group will examine issues raised in greater depth. In the final colloquium, attended by all groups, the outcomes of all events will be examined, leading to the production of key recommendations for effective knowledge exchange between City of Culture researchers and policy makers in the future. The project will result in a website, three summary reports and one key recommendations document. Outcomes will be disseminated via the website and through the professional and academic networks of project members. The outcomes of the network will also be published in a professional magazine, such as Local Government Association First and as an academic paper in a leading cultural policy journal such as the International Journal of Cultural Policy or Cultural Trends.

The aim of this network is to bring together interdisciplinary expertise to address the problem of air quality in schools. The future health of our nation and indeed all human society depends on educating children in healthy environments. The Tackling Air Pollution at School (TAPAS) network focuses on that vulnerable section of every society - school children and their environment. Our vision is to create and develop a menu of options that can be introduced into schools to provide an environment free of pollutants and in harmony with nature, so that children have a fulfilling and healthy educational experience. These products need to be effective, inexpensive and, where possible, educational: i.e. they should involve the children in an understanding of their environment and provide them with an opportunity to engage with it in social, scientific and behavioural terms. We have chosen to focus on schools and school children for the following reasons. Children are a particularly vulnerable section of society. They are physiologically less able to regulate their temperature and are more susceptible to exposure to air pollution than adults. Among the vulnerable groups in society school pupils will experience the impact of poor air quality for the longest period into the future. Recently, over 2000 schools in the UK were identified as being in 'pollution hotspots' where air pollution exceeds WHO limits. From a practical viewpoint, working in schools has many advantages. School keep records on student attendance and pupils which provide information on absences related to health. They also have data on room occupancy, pupil activities (e.g. PE, meals) and movement through the school. This information is essential to determine personal exposure. Additionally, schools offer a wide variety of spaces including labs, meeting halls, dining areas as well as classrooms, each with different ventilation and indoor sources of pollution. The ability of schools to mitigate exposure to pollution is hampered by lack of knowledge. For example, the impact of idling vehicle engines near school while dropping off and collecting children on exposure in the playground or on indoor levels of NOx and particulate matter (PM) is unclear, making it impossible for schools to decide whether to ban idling or not. Our interdisciplinary team consists of experts in indoor and outdoor pollution, air pollution modelling, data science, building design and ventilation, education, social behaviour and health impacts. This will allow this network to address the critical issues associated with pollution in schools by offering a menu of solutions. We also propose to include a significant educational component so that pupils will learn about the impacts of poor air quality and take this knowledge with them as they grow up, thereby producing a lasting change in society. Schools also accommodate children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who are even more vulnerable and who often require special environmental conditions. Furthermore, there are currently a wide range related activities concerning indoor environmental quality in schools that this network will bring together for the first time in a coordinated fashion.