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PROFILE

PROFILE

Coventry University

Coventry University

What the West Midlands is doing to attract and develop

the best talent in life sciences and healthcare

Fundamental movement skills (FMS), physical

activity and obesity in British children, Professor
Mike Duncan, Dr Samantha Birch, Dr Sam Oxford,
Dr Emma Eyre, Elizabeth Bryant (Physical Activity,
Exercise and Obesity).
As fundamental movement skills underpin all forms
of physical activity it is important that children
master these as early as possible. We have been
tracking 600 children from Coventry over a four
year period, measuring mobility, levels of physical
activity and body fatness.
Our work has highlighted some important issues
related to childrens current and future health and
is suggestive that efforts to reduce child obesity
levels in Britain may be unsustainable if they simply
focus on asking children to exercise more. Our
research has also demonstrated that putting effort
into ensuring children develop the key fundamental
movement skills early on will result in children
being more physically active and less likely to be
overweight or obese as they get older. These findings
have clear and important implications for Education
policy relating to PE as well as being relevant to
other areas related to child health and development.
Full findings from this research are due for
publication in the Journal of Sport Sciences.

Investing in opportunities
for research stars for
the future locally
and nationally
Coventry Universitys Faculty of Health
and Life Sciences is widely recognised
for its research and for the quality of its
education provision.
Professor Guy Daly, Faculty Executive Dean:
We have dedicated, knowledgeable and hardworking
staff; first class teaching facilities; and strong
partnerships with employers from a range of sectors,
which combine to create an excellent learning
environment for those wishing to pursue a career in
the health sector. As a result; when canvassed for
opinion our students consistently confirm their high
levels of satisfaction with their courses and our staff

An artists impression of the Universitys new Health and Life Sciences (HLS) building

Associate Dean of Research, Professor Jane Coad:

We have a strong focus on increasing and spreading
knowledge within our field and to that end we have
established three new Faculty Research Centres
spearheaded by expert scholars.

Violence and interpersonal aggression

Identity and resilience in communities and
organisations
Brain, belief and behaviour
Atypical development

THE CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN APPLIED

BIOLOGICAL AND EXERCISE SCIENCES (CABES)
Executive Director, Professor Alfonso Jimenez:
CABES furthers our understanding of fundamental
biological pathways and processes, applying
biological sciences to advance diagnosis and
prevention of disease.
Our aim is to enhance Coventry Universitys
reputation for scientific research of excellent quality
covering three key themes: Cellular and Molecular
Biosciences; Biological Systems, Health and Disease;
and Physical Activity, Exercise and Obesity.

THE CENTRE FOR TECHNOLOGY ENABLED HEALTH

RESEARCH (CTHER)
Head of CTHER, Professor Beth Grunfeld:
Bringing together interdisciplinary teams of 31
academics and over 30 doctoral researchers to
create four themes which focus on different aspects
of health and technology research, the centre has
internationally recognised strengths in health
behaviours and interventions, children and families,
innovative technology and health economics.
CTEHR works closely with users, service providers,
commissioners and industry and conducts
theoretically driven research that benefits the health
and wellbeing of our nation through the advancement
of fundamental knowledge, promotion of behaviour
change, development of services and contribution to
policy.

THE CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN PSYCHOLOGY,

BEHAVIOUR AND ACHIEVEMENT (PBA)
PBA focuses on the development and evaluation of
theoretically-rooted, evidence-based psychological
interventions across many areas. The centre delivers
on five themes:
Childrens literacy and developmental disorders

In addition to the new Faculty Research Centres, in

2015 Coventry University joined forces with twelve

other University Alliance universities to launch

the Doctoral Training Alliance (DTA) programme in
response to industry needs and to promote the UKs
economic growth and productivity.
The DTA programme aims will utilise highlyemployable researchers with the expertise and
skills in strategically-important research areas.
Researchers from the CABES and the CTHER are
part of the first cohort. This is the largest single
community of researchers working in the applied
biosciences for health and a truly exciting time in
the world of research at Coventry University.
SPOTLIGHT ON OUR RESEARCH PROJECTS
Inocardia
The work being carried out by Inocardia, a Coventry
University spinout company led by Professor Helen
Maddock in CABES, is an example of research that
explores current practices to develop safer and
more economical interventions. When drugs are
developed to treat a particular disease or for human
use they sometimes have side effects that cause
heart damage. This is a significant risk to human
health and is costly to the pharmaceutical industry
when a dangerous product is withdrawn from
market. Current drug testing relies on the use of

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animals that often do not do well in predicting the

effect on humans.
Professor Maddock and her team have developed
a pioneering new way using real human heart
tissue to test the effect of drugs on the heart
without using human or animal trials. This simulated
cardiovascular system known as a work-loop
assay provides the most realistic model of heart
muscle dynamics in the world to date, and opens
up unprecedented possibilities for identifying
negative effects of drugs early and inexpensively
potentially saving lives and speeding up the
development of successful drug treatments.
Children and Families research
The Children and Families Research (CFR) group
led by Professor Jane Coad within CTHER evaluated
the effectiveness of nursing and support for cancer
services for 16 to 24 year olds across the North
West of England. This pilot model, supported by the
Teenage Cancer Trust, saw improved provision and

quality of care as a result of the work carried out

by Janes team and the project won the prestigious
Nursing Times HRH Prince of Wales Award for
Integration of Care in 2015. The project is now being
rolled out nationally.
Autism
With PBA, Dr Sarah Cassidy leads a research project
around sensory and motor difficulties in autism
spectrum conditions, and whether these are related
to the severity of social and emotional difficulties
associated with these conditions.
IMPACT OF OUR RESEARCH
There are many stories of impact, as part of our
intervention work, and results can be seen quickly or
emerge more slowly over time. The impact of policy,
the end user experience, future research ideas and
funder collaborations, and partnerships are what
make research at the Faculty of Health and Life
Sciences an exciting place to work.

Creative approaches to service design:

development of a new assistive technology
service, Dr Gillian Ward, Nikki Holliday, Darren
Awang (IDTU).
We are pioneering a new assistive technology service
that enables people with complex health issues to
live more independent lives, helping them to live
at home and better equipping friends and family
to support them. The service was piloted over 3
months with 39 users and carers. The results were
overwhelmingly positive, with all participants
wishing to keep the service. Success was due, partly,
to the application of established design principles
to make the service useful, usable, efficient and
desirable.

For more information call 024 7615 8258 or email

knowledgetransfer@coventry.ac.uk