Zoology professor Rory Wilson talks about how his research helps to prevent endangered animals being poached. Rory explains how he tracks the movement of endangered species using electronic tags and how this data is used to protect them. He helps humans and animals to successfully cohabit and analyses the impact of the human environment on animal behaviour. Rory talks about his fascinating work with penguins, albatross, elephants and tortoises.

Exploring Global Problems

14. Protecting endangered species - using tracking data to prevent poaching

Professor Lorenzo-Dus’s research focusses on the ‘dark side’ of social media, working to help combat individuals and groups looking to deceive, manipulate, exploit and incite violence. The research programme that Professor Lorenzo-Dus leads is called Developing Resilience against Online Grooming (DRaOG). She works with a team of linguists, criminologists, computer scientists and in partnership with law enforcement agencies and charities internationally. As part of the DRaOG programme they are identifying the manipulative tactics that adults use when seeking to sexually groom minors online, and – most importantly - using the results of this research to develop individual and social resilience against it.

13. Online Child Sexual Grooming: How can we develop social resilience to combat it?

How could bacteria be used to prevent the spread of malaria or Zika virus? Could this research also be used to treat or even cure cancers? Professor Paul Dyson explains how his research could be the next major advance in cancer treatment to Dr Sam Blaxland in this next instalment of our Exploring Global Problems Podcast.

12. Cancer treatment and eradicating malaria: what role can microbes play?

Currently, there is a massive drive to solve global warming and to minimise the effects waste gases have on the environment. Dr Emily Preedy’s research focuses on using waste Carbon Dioxide to help grow algae to clean up waste fumes from local industry. Emily talks about her work, the many useful properties of algae and the little things we can do to reduce our carbon footprint.

11. Reducing carbon emissions: using algae to clean up industry waste fumes

Dr Ian Mabbett talks about SUNRISE, a project which aims to develop new materials for energy generation, storage and use that are integrated into buildings. The project takes ideas from labs into production, ideally locally where needed, then produces buildings that act as energy hubs across India, where 300 million people lack reliable 24/7 power. The work impacts on many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, including affordable and clean energy, clean water and sanitation; and responsible consumption and production.

10. Clean energy: revolutionary research to generate, store and use renewable energy

Is exploitative work becoming the new normal? Does the world of work have to be this way? Professor Geraint Harvey of Swansea University's School of Management deliberates new forms of work, which have become known as the gig economy, what they look like and how they impact the worker. Think you know the benefits to the gig economy? Think again.

9. The gig economy - think you know the benefits? Think again.

The World Health Organisation has called it a public health crisis and burn injuries have been described as a “disease of poverty”. In this episode, Consultant Plastic Surgeon and Professor of Human and Health Sciences Tom Potokar discusses his research into burn injuries and his work to improve their care and prevention in conflict environments and poorer parts of the world. Tom talks about working in countries such as Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Nepal to improve the care of victims of burn injuries by building the capacity of those treating them.

8. Burn injuries are a disease of poverty: how do we tackle this global public health crisis?

Dr Nigel Pollard discusses his work on the protection of heritage in conflict zones around the world and why it is important from both a moral and philosophical perspective. In this episode of Exploring Global Problems, drawing on his work in places such as Syria, Egypt and Italy, Nigel explains how protecting heritage can help to rebuild communities broken apart by conflict. He talks about the importance of heritage sites to local and national economies and how armed forces on peace-keeping missions can win the support of local communities by respecting local heritage.

7. Preserving heritage sites in conflict zones: does this help communities to recover?

The UK produces 200 million tonnes of waste each year and one quarter of that goes to landfill. The resources that we need are becoming more and more scarce.  Where are we going to get those critical raw materials for things like power generation and medical devices in the future? How do we start designing products so we recycle those resources and not just put them in landfill? Associate Professor’s Gavin Bunting and Matthew Davies talk about the Circular Economy and Swansea University's work in next generation solar energy technology and how we are making sustainable renewable energy.

6. Circular economy: discouraging the throwaway culture

From supermarkets to high speed trains, politics to lottery tickets; economics is embedded in all that we do. Dr Simon Rudkin explains how economics isn’t just about maths and money; our happiness in our choices is paramount.

5. There’s more to life than money: how do we measure happiness?

They were known as “legal highs”, and they pose a significant threat to public health. Programme Director for Pharmacy at Swansea Dr Amira Guirguis and Dr Sam Blaxland explore the relationship of vaping to recent deaths in America, and how Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) can be better understood, classified and treated.

4. The devastating effects of “legal highs”

How a human-centred approach to digital technology helps to address global problems. Computer Scientist, Professor Matt Jones, discusses his research into street-speaker systems in India and how working with emergent users to design technology makes a real difference to their lives. Matt also talks about a ‘digital darkness’ in terms of privacy, artificial intelligence, the breakdown in face-to-face communication and how we can use a human-centred approach to overcome this.

3. Is there a ‘digital darkness’ descending?

The world is losing the battle against bacteria and is running out of effective antibiotics…but can maggots save the human race? In this episode, Biomedical Scientist, Professor Yamni Nigam, discusses her research into wounds and antimicrobial resistance. Yamni talks about using maggots to combat the antimicrobial crisis and heal infected wounds while working to overcome the “yuck factor” associated with these creepy crawly medical powerhouses.

2. The truth about antibiotics: will maggots save the human race?

Global temperature changes we have experienced in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries are unprecedented in terms of speed, suggesting a real climate emergency. Professor Mary Gagen, of Swansea University’s Geography Department, measures tree ring data – ‘weather stations across the world’. Her research focuses on climate change over the last few thousand years, to determine how our current global changes compare to recent history.

1. Climate change - reading the past in tree ring data

A podcast about the ground breaking research by Swansea University into global challenges. We explore topics from health innovation and climate change, to clean energy and human-centred digital technologies.

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Exploring Global Problems

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