Research Projects
Current Research Projects
The proposed research project aims to investigate the motivations and challenges faced by tenured refugees engaging in entrepreneurship within the agri-food sector in Lower Saxony, Germany, and Lanarkshire, Scotland. Given the increasing number of refugees globally and the economic potential of immigrant entrepreneurship, this study seeks to understand how refugees’ entrepreneurial activities can be leveraged […]
This research project investigates consumer acceptance of a novel plant-based oat drink enriched with seaweed in Lower Saxony, Germany, and Scotland. Given the health benefits of plant-based diets and the environmental advantages of regional products, this study aims to create a sustainable and nutritious product. Oats, a staple in both regions, are processed into oat […]
This research project aims to explore the complex dynamics of care relationships involving people with dementia. It acknowledges the significant impact of dementia not only on those diagnosed but also on their caregivers, emphasising the importance of understanding these relationships within their broader social and policy contexts. Guided by the ‘ethics of care’ framework, the […]
This project explores the potential of mine water energy as a renewable energy source, utilising geothermal heat from abandoned, flooded mines. By transforming these voids into ‘geo-batteries,’ it aims to store surplus heat from renewable sources like solar and wind. The research focuses on the Reiche Zeche mine, now a research and teaching facility under […]
This project focuses on developing a miniaturised piezoelectric electro-optical modulator to create more compact, energy-efficient, and cost-effective photonic circuits. With the increase in digital data traffic and sensor-based analyses, integrated photonics is critical for addressing these challenges due to its bandwidth and efficiency advantages. The project aims to enhance electro-optic modulation, a key component in […]
The proposed research project aims to fortify the collaboration between two groups of Andrey Surzhykov at PTB Braunschweig and Sonja Franke-Arnold at the University of Glasgow, with additional experimental support from Ilja Gerhardt’s Light & Matter Group at Leibniz University Hannover. This collaboration will explore the interaction and propagation of structured vector light beams in […]
Past Research Projects
“You’re stealing our future!” – Fridays for Future and Collective Action against Climate Change “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children!” Slogans such as this one have been popular in climate and environmentalist movements since the 1960s. However, it was not until recent years that those children themselves […]
Climate change is accelerating, and immediate action is needed to slow down its impacts. The food system, which contributes to nearly 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions, is a major player in this global challenge. Unhealthy diets, often characterised by lower intake of fruits, vegetables, and wholegrains and higher intake of meat, not only harm […]
Contextual-Fear and Theta-Rhythm The brain’s defensive system detects danger signals and organises physiological and behavioural responses, preparing the individual to flight or flee. A defensive (fear) memory is formed by classical conditioning to distinct cues, contexts, or a combination of a cue in a context, for example, an angry dog barking loudly behind ones back in […]
Recent COVID19 pandemic highlights the importance of the availability of fast/reliable biomarker detection schemes. Along with identification of a specific biomarker, there is a demand for the detection of several biomarkers simultaneously to provide additional information and improve diagnostics. Sensing devices available for simultaneous detection of several biomarkers are expensive and bulky, i.e. bench-top bio-analyzers, […]
Financial globalization has been accompanied by global imbalance – capital flows from capital abundant developed countries (mostly North) to capital scarce developing countries (mostly South) in net terms. The recent disaggregate data shows, however, that the global capital flows in fact feature a pattern of two-way capital flows – the risky equity (including FDI) assets […]
The research project “High reflectivity of strongly focused fields” is a fundamental research project which establishes the theoretical understanding and the experimental implementation of the research on strongly-focused light fields. The underlying research has an impact on very small objects, such as single molecules, which are below the diffraction limit. Although our research originates from […]
Migrant Care Workers (MCWs) in UK, Germany & Italy: a comparative analysis of quantitative data & public policies on migration Older people and their informal carers often rely on the support of paid personal assistants, informal caregivers, or migrant care workers (MCWs), who are privately hired by the older person or his/her family, for carrying […]
Skilled Migrant Women Workers from Germany and Developing Countries: Navigating Career and Networking Challenges and Opportunities in Scotland The purpose of this research is to interrogate career and networking-related challenges for skilled migrant women employees in Scotland. We aim to investigate the individual experiences, career aspirations and needs of skilled migrant women from a developed […]
The proposed research aims to analyse the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of quantum fields, which are induced by the interaction with external degrees-of-freedom. This research has a fundamental importance in gravity, where fields interact with the background spacetime. Clarifying the effects of the two-way interaction between quantum field and spacetime is a long-standing, still open issue which […]
The discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 using the ATLAS and CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was a tremendous achievement in particle physics. This discovery confirmed the Higgs field, a part of the Standard Model of particle physics responsible for giving mass to all fundamental particles. Since then, the Higgs boson […]
Periodicity refers to the tendency to recur at intervals or the system tends to repeat itself regularly, while randomness refers to uncertainty that cannot easily be captured and may hinder our ability to make a reliable prediction about the future. The concepts of randomness and periodicities do not seem to match well in nature. However, […]
Simulating Subsurface Conditions for Green Energy Technologies in Lower Saxony and Scotland using the unique GREAT Cells of Edinburgh University and Georg-August Universität Göttingen The UK and German governments have each made commitments to conduct a transition towards green energy in the face of the climate crisis driven by CO2 emissions. Many proven or potential technologies […]
Social interaction in times of social distancing: Investigating the impact of physical and emotional distance on joint action During the COVID-19 pandemic, social life has been shaped by containment measures such as social distancing and mask wearing. People now prefer larger ‘interpersonal distances’ than before the pandemic, in line with social distancing guidelines. In addition, […]
Synthesis of new Heteroalkenes containing Group 14 and Group 2 elements and their application as catalysts The project focuses on the design and development of new bimetallic catalysts based upon main group elements due to their low cost, high natural abundance, and environmentally benign nature. The combination of two metal centres, which are directly bound […]
Our project proposal addresses fundamental topics in modern optical and atomic physics, such as symmetry breaking, structured light, and the interplay between optics and mechanics on the nano and quantum levels. Our research groups have diverse expertise in the study of light-matter interactions; in Glasgow we work on understanding the theoretical aspects of these interactions, […]
