June 2013: Uncertainties, knowledge gaps and research priorities

“Imagine a world in which the scientists who were pioneering new understanding of earth system processes were also those who were most active in embedding that new knowledge in the delivery of social or economic value” Dr Tim Daley (i)

In the recent years, researchers are increasingly challenged not only participate in creating knowledge but to take a more active role in translating this knowledge into policy and practice. Researchers along with research organisations, funding agencies and charities make decisions every day what topics would be conducted as a research project. These research projects shape the available knowledge that policy makers, practitioners, managers and the public use to inform their decision making. However, there are few studies done evaluating systematically how decisions on selecting certain research questions affect the scope of the knowledge that is available to policy makers and the public (ii). For example a study engaging with patients with osteoarthritis of knee demonstrated a mismatch between the uncertainties that patients and clinicians face (effectiveness of physiotherapy and surgery, and assessment of educational and coping strategies) and the research that was conducted (research predominately evaluated drugs) (iii). Consequently, we need to ask ourselves (a) “are we, as researchers, doing enough to fill the knowledge gaps that policy makers and the public face in every day decision making” (b) can an earlier dialogue between the researchers and the public, practitioners and policy makers on shaping identifying, shaping and prioritisation of research questions increases the relevance and acceptability of our research”. As part of an international community called Cochrane Agenda and Priority Setting Methods Group (http://capsmg.cochrane.org), we attempt to answer these and other methodological questions to develop an evidence base for methods to prioritise research and set a research agenda. (Photograph by Roland Gehrels from the Climate Science Group with Plymouth University).

Our ongoing quest to identify and prioritise key uncertainties for dental research has identified uncertainties on strategies to achieve and maintain environmental sustainability in the dental care. This was identified as part of a research priority setting project with the Shirley Glasstone Hughes Trust and British Dental Association (BDA). The BDA hosts an online forum called curious about (http://www.bda.org/dentists/education/sgh/). Dentists are encouraged to join the online forum and submit burning question to problems they have encountered in their day to day dental practice. Once a month, they are given the opportunity to vote for the questions. The fund would commission a rapid evidence review on the most voted question; this review will be subsequently published in the British Dental Journal. The rapid evidence review intends to demonstrate whether (a) the question is already answered with research but there is a gap in translating the research to practice or (b) there is a genuine uncertainty and the question still remains unanswered. Every year, the trustees come together and make a decision informed by the rapid evidence reviews which of the prioritised topics are in more urgent need for new research to fill the knowledge gap. The selected topic (or topics) would be part of a commissioned funding call. The fund goes a step further in ensuring the relevance of its commissioned research to its final targeted audience (general dental practitioners); it requires that each grant proposal be led by a general dental practitioner in collaboration with academic researchers.

In 2012, one of the questions that was raised and prioritised was “can plastics used in dentistry act as an environmental pollutant? Can we avoid the use of plastics in dental practice?”. The rapid evidence review identified a narrative review on environmental legislations that are relevant to dental care environment. The narrative review suggested that dentists should consider using environmental audit as part of their daily practice. However, there were no studies identified evaluating the feasibility, applicability and impact of environmental audit in dental practices (iv). Further explorative searches (as part of the rapid evidence review) identified a randomised controlled trial (RCT) comparing two impression materials in a general dental practice. Unlike most RCTs which evaluate patient and biomedical outcomes, this one evaluated an environmental outcome, the relative wastage of the materials (v). The rapid evidence review has shown that despite a number of studies discussing and exploring the issue of environmental sustainability in dental care environment, there are no studies identified directly answering the prioritised question. We are currently working together with researchers in Institute for Sustainability Solutions Research on developing research proposals and applying for research grants to make the first step in filling up this knowledge gap. Finally, I do like to encourage you to “Imagine a world in which the scientists engage in a dialogue with policy makers, practitioners, managers and the public to understand their day to day problems, questions and uncertainties and reflect on strategies that facilitates making collective decisions on what research topics are most worth answering through research”.



Note: If you are interested in research priority setting methods, we developed a collection of publications and other resources on (http://capsmg.cochrane.org). You could also join us on our next two events in the Cochrane Colloquium in Quebec City, Canada (www.colloquium.info) in Sep 2013. We are organising workshop on planning and conducting a research priority setting exercise and also a special session on responsive evidence development.










(i) Daley T. Institute for Sustainability Solutions Research JanuaryBlog. http://www1.plymouth.ac.uk/research/issr/Documents/ISSR%20Blog%20January%202012.pdf

(ii) Nasser M, Welch V, Ueffing E, Crowe S, Oliver S, Carlo R. Evidence in agenda setting: new directions for the Cochrane Collaboration. J Clin Epidemiol. 2013 May;66(5):469-71. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2012.08.006. Epub 2013 Jan 9. PubMed PMID: 23312393.

(iii) Tallon D, Chard J, Dieppe P. Exploring the priorities of patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. Arthritis Care Res. 2000 Oct;13(5):312-9. PubMed PMID: 14635301.

(iv) Nasser M. Evidence summary: can plastics used in dentistry act as an environmental pollutant? Can we avoid the use of plastics in dental practice? Br Dent J. 2012 Jan 27;212(2):89-91. doi: 10.1038/sj.bdj.2012.72. Review. PubMed PMID: 22281636.

(v) Wilson N H, Cowan A J, Crisp R J, Wilson M A. Wastage of a silicone impression material in a general practice setting: a comparison between hand and automixing methods. SADJ 2001;56: 233–236.

Dr Mona Nasser is a Clinical Lecturer in Evidence Based Dentistry

May 2013: 21st Century research: water

The UK public was told to expect future hotter, drier summers and milder, wet winters. For the past few years they have experienced the opposite and are now told that this could still be because of global warming via changes in the normal position of prevailing weather systems. One of the key public concerns for climate change, then, is the extent to which the mid-latitude weather systems deviate from their climatic norms. The socio-economic consequences were evident last summer (2012) and for the past two winters in the UK and Europe through freezing temperatures interspersed with drought then flooding!

Climate change, then, is not just about temperature. Amongst many other things, it concerns changes in our water resources. Water resource planning in the UK is based on 25-year time horizons and indeed provides an exemplar for long-term environmental resource planning. Precipitation records for the UK are some of the longest in the world, but still, at best, provide, perhaps 8 to 10 preceding “states” based on this time horizon.

Some of the novel research currently being undertaken within the Institute is focused on enhancing knowledge of water cycle variability and its interaction with other biochemical cycles. A key part of that research involves establishing how precipitation changed each decade, not just over the past couple of hundred years, but over the past few thousand years. In the past (pardon the pun), where differences were observed within 100km, for example, this might be questioned as error. Now, we recognise that such regional differences can tell us a lot about what was taking place in the atmosphere to drive those changes.

Where rain falls and its chemical composition depends on where it has come from. It has a fingerprint. This fingerprint can be found in modern rainfall distribution and chemistry. It should also be found in past records of these two indicators. Those records come from some of the most unlikely of places: buried plants and dead creatures. Extracting chemical stories from the remains of these former living beings, it is possible to map changes in the regional distribution of the amount of precipitation and chemistry of the water. In so doing, we can work out the latitudinal position or intensity of the westerly winds.

So what evidence is there to suggest that any of this is true? Stretching over to the other side of the planet, we are already able to observe these types of changes. In the last 30 years, the westerly winds that drive frontal rain-bearing depressions have moved south and intensified. The result has been more intense precipitation on the south-western side of the Andes and drying conditions on the eastern side. Warm air from the north has also been drawn down to mix with cooler air over the southern pampas of Argentina. In this region, where much of the drinking water is derived from glacial run-off, changing precipitation patterns matter greatly.

In the UK, drinking water sources vary across the country. Some regions rely on surface water (from captured rainfall). Others rely on “fossil” water from deep abstraction. Crucially, where the southern hemisphere westerlies have moved poleward, the pattern in the past seven years in NW Europe has been quite different and it is essential to know if this is unusual. Our team, made up of colleagues from near and colleagues from far is currently searching for these past “fingerprints” of change. This is not an issue to be scuttled sideways around. Instead, I propose that knowledge of the potential changes in where our water will come from is absolutely central to the sustainability of the UK in Europe.

Tim Daley is Director of the Institute for Sustainability Solutions Research (ISSR)

January 2012: Dr. Tim Daley

Imagine a world in which the scientists who were pioneering new understanding of earth system processes were also those who were most active in embedding that new knowledge in the delivery of social or economic value. That value might be represented by change in human behaviours. It might be embedded in new, exportable technologies. It might even be in both. The enlightenment economist, Adam Smith, might well have disapproved, recognising that the specialisation of labour results in improved efficiency and productivity. But that appears to be the developing world of academia, where the impact of research in terms of its measurable effect on policy or economy is now also the responsibility of the academics from whom that new knowledge has come. Despite the inevitable difficulties it will bring to some, the argument for this as a way forward is compelling. In large part, it is taxpayer’s money that is used to fund research. Why then should the sector not work to ensure that maximum value is returned to the investors?

The Institute for Sustainability Solutions Research (ISSR) with Plymouth University provides a vehicle for energising that transition, for bringing the academic and the “real world” together in the context of developing sustainability. Several projects are underway currently and it seems unfair to draw on one example, but that is all there is space for here.

Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded research is currently being undertaken by a team that sees Plymouth University partnered with colleagues in Aberdeen, Swansea, Southampton and Exeter and is seeking to explore past changes in climate and its effect on peatland systems in both the northern and southern mid-latitudes. One of the early outputs from the research has revealed new insight not only into the mechanisms of regional climate change, but also linkage with carbon sequestration. Conservation of peatlands and their restoration has become a widespread management practice, partly on the belief that this improves carbon sequestration as well as providing a host of ecosystem services. Through the ISSR and assisted by a Royal Society grant, stakeholders will now be engaged with the new knowledge linking climate and carbon sequestration in peatlands. Through that linkage, it is hoped that experimental carbon accounting models can be developed that will allow that land owners to monetise the carbon asset that exists in their peatland and finance any required restoration via the carbon markets. The potential for a new mechanism for the delivery of a healthy environment is particularly exciting!

Inevitably, this process involves cross-disciplinary working and the drawing together of specific expertise. To that extent Adam Smith might well feel less aggrieved. The example, however, reflects awareness of just one of the potential applications of pure scientific research. Where the national steer has become increasingly clear, it is our sincere intention that the ISSR will grow this space and explore new and pioneering associations.

Dr. Tim Daley, ISSR Director (at time of writing, ISSR Deputy Director)

December 2011: Early reflections from an ISSR Manager

Right so I’ve been here three months and I’ve been asked to write a blog, come nonacademic sustainability thinkpiece, come outline of the future strategy of the ISSR (and all in 1500 words !) and it has to be punchy and controversial ! Help is my first reaction ! I’m not really used to writing in that style, in fact I haven’t done much “writing” for a while. Any how here it goes. These are my early reflections on the ISSR and Plymouth University (after three months of being here). I begin this blog with a short story that has influenced my own thinking about the ISSR, the Blind Men and the Elephant…….

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Six blind men were asked to determine what an elephant looked like by feeling different parts of the elephant's body. The blind man who felt the leg said that the elephant is like a pillar; the one who felt the tail said that the elephant is like a rope; the one who felt the trunk said that the elephant is like a tree branch; the one who felt the ear said that the elephant is like a fan; the one who felt the belly said that the elephant is like a wall; and the one who felt the tusk said that the elephant is like a solid pipe.

An argument broke out about who is correct!

However, a wise man explained to them:

"All of you are right. The reason every one of you is telling it differently is because each one of you touched a different part of the elephant.”

The significance of this story will be explained at the end……….

So what does the ISSR mean by Sustainability?

Sustainability often means different things to different people (!). The diagram on the left illustrates some of the activities that can fall under Sustainability. One of the first things that I wanted to understand when I arrived was - what does the ISSR mean by sustainability ? The answer is that at the ISSR we are currently taking a broad view of what Sustainability means and looking at all these different areas outlined (and more !). The challenges of sustainability are complex and deeply interconnected and we currently do not have a strict “definition” (or single perspective) that we are working with, rather we are keen to engage with organisations and researchers in any of these areas.

What does the ISSR mean by Solutions?

The ISSR is about delivering solutions to global sustainability challenges. We are focussing on “Real World” change in appropriate timescales. We are aiming to make a difference and to secure a sustainable future. Partnerships are key to achieving this both externally and internally within the University. The best example of this is the first major project to be delivered by ISSR on Smart Ticketing….

Smart Ticketing Solutions for South West Sustainable Transport – delivered through ISSR

In 2008, a conference of all SW local authorities, bus operators and regional economic stakeholders, established a Forum to explore the development of smart and integrated ticketing throughout the region. 

In September 2010, in partnership with Plymouth University, the forum was successful in winning £1.85m to deliver the regional smart ticketing back office system in partnership with the West of England Partnership. This will include the delivery of 1500 Smart enabled buses; a £100,000 consultancy support programme; a nationally acclaimed User Guide to assist migration to smart ticketing; and 12 Smart Interoperable Ticketing schemes, along with key outcomes of road based carbon reductions and quantifiable annual efficiency savings for both Local Authorities (LAs) and Operators alike. 

The partnership was formalised through establishing a public/private Company, limited by guarantee, South West Smart Applications Ltd (SWSAL), based in the ISSR. SWSAL was launched on 8th October 2010 by Rt Hon Norman Baker MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport. Since its launch, SWSAL has recently been awarded a further £2.98m from the Department for Transport’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund, in partnership with Plymouth City Council, to build upon the outputs of the £1.85m already won, and matched funding from local councils and bus operators to deliver in total:

• Smart ticketing on all 3500 Buses in SW England; 
• Europe’s 1st regional open access pay-per-use Card Management System;
• England’s 1st Regional E-Money Stored Value Transport Ticketing Platform 
• A Regional Fund to Assist the Smartcard Migration of Community Transport and Community Rail Partnership Schemes

ISSR – building on Plymouth University Excellence

From the outside of the University you realise that Plymouth has some excellent expertise on Sustainability. However, it is only when you begin to meet and talk to people that you realise the strength, depth and breadth of this expertise ! Also, it is clear that Plymouth University are very serious about “walking the talk”. Sustainability is a key part of the University, it is one of five University ambitions and there is some excellent work on the Operations side and “Teaching and Learning” as well as the Research side. I personally think we need to shout about this more!

Did you know?

• The University has Rainwater harvesting in Roland Levinski building and Nancy Aster
• Passive Ventilation and Night-time Cooling in Portland Square
• Over the next 12 months new voltage optimisers are being installed
• Plymouth University has a target to become carbon neutral by 2030
• A recent book on Sustainability Education, edited by Plymouth University staff, was noted by the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership (CPSL) as one of the 'Top 40 books of 2010' 
• The University’s approach to Sustainability through it’s tri-cameral structure won a “Green Gown Award” for Continuous Improvement- Institutional Change in 2011
• Since 2006, Plymouth University have been one of the top six performers in the People and Planet’s Green League and in 2010 came first out of 138 participating Higher Education Institutions.
• There are over 200 researchers at Plymouth University working on “Sustainability”

The ISSR is built on the prior success and outstanding reputations of Plymouth University’s world class researchers. There are over 200 researchers working on a range of applied sustainability areas from Sustainable Transport, Environmental Buildings and Renewable Energy to Psychology, Health and Policy. From Environmental Science, Climate Change and Sustainable Communities to Low Carbon Development, Sustainable Education and International Development. To name just a few!

What can the ISSR do for me?

The ISSR cuts across the whole of the University, all of the faculties. We have identified 3 key areas of activity:

Internal Network

The ISSR cuts across all faculties within the University and aims to facilitate internal communications between researchers and enhance research interaction. Sustainability solutions often require looking at problems from multiple perspectives and the ISSR will act as the catalyst for this. We have a whole host of activities planned. The first is to send monthly emails to all researchers with Sustainability research updates and funding opportunities, so we can join up on reactive research opportunities. More to follow on developing proactive research opportunities ………

External Gateway

By cutting across the whole University, the ISSR can offer a single point of contact to external organisations wanting to collaborate with the University on Sustainability Research. We can also offer dedicated project management to scope projects and monitor and ensure that project objectives are met.

In addition, together with the centres, we are helping to hold a series of events. For example the recent presentation by Alan Knight, held together with Plymouth Business School on “If only the Planet Was a Shop”

Bid Hub

Finally, we are also providing support to sustainability researchers by informing them about research opportunities but also by supporting the development of multi-disciplinary bids or bids that involve external partners.

Why the elephant?

So why the elephant ? Well, for me, the challenges of delivering sustainability are complex and deeply interconnected. No single discipline (or organisation) has the complete picture. Hence, in order to find “Real World” Solutions, we need to join up across disciplines and also engage organisations outside the University. It is only when we do this that we begin to develop a full, holistic picture of the solutions to sustainability.

These are my reflections after 3 months, it will be interesting to see what are my reflections after 3 years!

….If you have any comments, suggestions or would like to get involved, please feel free to 

email me at Paul.Hardman@Plymouth.ac.uk.......Thanks.......... 

Dr Paul Hardman, Manager of the Institute for Sustainability Solutions Research