Do development indicators underlie global variation in the number of young people injecting drugs?
Dr Lindsey Hines, Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow in The Centre for Academic Mental Health & the Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol
Dr Adam Trickey, Senior Research Associate in Population Health Sciences, University of Bristol
Injecting drug use is a global issue: around the world an estimated 15.6 million people inject psychoactive drugs. People who inject drugs tend to begin doing so in adolescence, and countries that have larger numbers of adolescents who inject drugs may be at risk of emerging epidemic s of blood borne viruses unless they take urgent action. We mapped the global differences in the proportion of adolescents who inject drugs, but found that we may be missing the vital data we need to protect the lives of vulnerable young people. If we want to prevent HIV, hepatitis C, and overdose from sweeping through a new generation of adolescents we urgently need many countries to scale up harm reduction interventions, and to collect accurate which can inform public health and policy. Continue reading
Baby box: child welfare experts say use of sleep boxes could potentially put infants’ lives at risk
Authors:
Debbie Watson, Professor in Child and Family Welfare, University of Bristol
Helen Ball, Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Parent-Infant Sleep Lab, Durham University
Jim Reid, Senior Lecturer, Department of Education and Community Studies, University of Huddersfield
Pete Blair, Professor of Epidemiology and Statistics, University of Bristol
The baby box in Finland is embedded as part of the maternity system. Kela
Having a baby can be expensive. So it’s maybe not surprising that many retailers around the world have cottoned on to the success of Finland’s baby boxes – a package aimed to set up new parents and their bundle of joy. The Finnish boxes include baby clothing, sleep items, hygiene products and a parenting guide –- as well as a “sleep space” for the baby.
Many retailers around the world are now offering similar boxes for expectant parents. Indeed, research conducted at the University of Tampere in Finland suggests there are variants in over 60 countries. This includes Scotland’s baby box scheme – with all newborn babies getting a free baby box from the Scottish government.
But as a group of child welfare experts, we believe imitations of the Finnish boxes could be placing babies at risk. This is because it has become common to believe that if babies sleep in these boxes, it will help protect them from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Unfortunately, the research does not back this up. Continue reading
Universities need to do more to support impactful researchers
![[IMAGE: Caption text|/resources/images/blank.png]](https://www.upen.ac.uk/nl_uploads/89.png "[IMAGE: Caption text|/resources/images/blank.png]")
Universities need to do more to support impactful researchers
For anyone who has worked in or on policy engagement, the image of the furiously busy policymaker will be all too familiar.
In training, case studies and even in the academic literature, this image persists: a policymaker, inundated with different priorities, brain saturated with information, inbox filled to the brim, running frantically from one meeting to the next, trying to get as much as possible done in difficult circumstances, and with limited resources.
Although I suspect it is less common, there is also an image of the academic: busy with research and teaching, they meet multitudes of students and they mark piles of essays. The academic has also has limited resources, (unless they have a handy grant), but great depth of expertise.
Much of the thinking about engaging with policymakers focuses – rightly, I think – on how to make life easy for our “furiously busy policymaker”. We write differently, more concisely, more simply, and more in stories than in facts. In short, we tailor what we do to the concerns and priorities of policymakers. There is nothing wrong with that – indeed, it seems a sensible thing.
CEOs make more in first week of January than average salary – pay ratios are the solution
Dr Tobore Okah-Avae, Assistant Teacher, University of Bristol
The typical FTSE 100 CEO will have earned as much as the average UK worker earns in a year by 5pm on January 6 2020 – £29,559 for 33 hours of work, according to data compiled by the High Pay Centre think tank. By the close of the year, the same CEO would have earned £3.46 million – roughly 117 times the average wage in the UK. This is a staggering differential.
If you believe that excessive executive pay is a problem, this statistic illustrates the point perfectly. These figures even represent a reduction from previous years, although this is due more to shrinkage in overall CEO pay than increases at the bottom. And UK CEO pay actually pales in comparison to their counterparts in the US, where levels topped US$14.5m (£11.5m), representing a 287-1 differential with the average worker. Continue reading
Using evidence to advise public health decision makers: an insider’s view
This blog post reviews a recent seminar hosted by the MRC IEU, PolicyBristol and the Bristol Population Health Science Institute.
Public health is one of the most contested policy areas. It brings together ethical and political issues and evidence on what works, and affects us all as citizens.
Researchers produce evidence and decision-makers receive advice – but how does evidence become advice and who are the players who take research findings and present advice to politicians and budget-holders?
We were pleased to welcome a diverse audience of around 75 multidisciplinary academics, policymakers and practitioners to hear our seminar speakers give a range of insider perspectives on linking academic research with national and local decisions on what to choose, fund and implement.
In this blog post we summarise the seminar, including links to the slides and event recording. Continue reading
General Election 2019: a commentary
The Conservative party won an historic election victory last night, winning a majority at the expense of Labour. But what does this election result mean? Some of the University of Bristol’s politics scholars comment below.
Professor Mark Wickham-Jones 
Professor of Political Science
“More than anything else, this election is a decisive refutation of the Labour Party. In 2015 it lost its base in Scotland; in 2019 voters across its traditional heartlands in England rejected the party resulting a catastrophic loss of seats. How will the party’s left-wing membership react to such a reversal?
“It is hard to see how Labour can rebuild a winning coalition amongst the electorate in the short term. The outcome gives Boris Johnson’s Conservatives the opportunity to forge a decisive base amongst voters. The task for Labour over the next decade, not just the next general election, is Herculean.”
National greenhouse gas reporting needs an overhaul – it’s time to directly measure the atmosphere
Dr Matt Rigby, Reader in Atmospheric Chemistry, University of Bristol
How much greenhouse gas is emitted by any individual country? With global emissions of carbon dioxide hitting a record of 36.8 billion tonnes this year, and delegates gathering in Madrid for the latest UN climate talks, it’s a pressing question.
One might assume that we know precisely how much is emitted by any given country, and that such figures are rigorously cross-checked and scrutinised. And in some respects, this is true – countries are required to report their emissions to the UN, based on exhaustive guidelines and with reams of supporting data.
Yet these reports are based on what are known as inventory (or “bottom-up”) methods. To simplify, this means that governments figure out how much greenhouse gas is emitted by a typical car, cow, or coal plant, and then add up all the cows, cars and so on to get an overall emissions figure. Continue reading
Can Flying Go Green?
Can Flying Go Green? Panorama, BBC One
With BBC Panorama questioning if airlines are doing enough to go green, the University of Bristol We are Engineering blog asked Bristol’s engineers how they’re making aviation greener. We republish a shortened version below.
Viewers of BBC’s Panorama programme Can Flying Go Green? last week would have seen how our passion for flying is warming the planet. Aviation is a major contributor to global carbon dioxide emissions, burning more fossil fuels per passenger than any other form of transport. In the show, Justin Rowlatt investigates how the airlines are trying to clean up their act, but what is being done outside of the commercial sector to make aviation greener? Here’s what our engineers are doing to pave the way to a greener future for the industry. Continue reading
Better Legal and Social Support Needed for LGBTQI+ People Seeking Asylum in Germany
By Mengia Tschalaer and Nina Held 
LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum in Germany often remain invisible and unrecognized within Germany’s asylum system unless they specifically come forward and out themselves. Our new report shows that better visibility and access to legal and social support is needed for this group of asylum seekers. Continue reading
UK science policy in a changing Arctic: The Arctic Circle Assembly 2019
Dr Kate Hendry, Associate Professor in Geochemistry at the School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol
The Arctic is one of the most rapidly changing regions on Earth. Its lands and oceans are undergoing unprecedented transitions, from permafrost melting to sea ice thinning, and its people are vulnerable to the knock-on effects of climate change. Continue reading