Shaping our communities
Celebrating the research impact from the University of Surrey
Our research delivers amazing results. Sometimes the impact is immediately apparent.
In other cases, it can take years. Or a decade.
Or five.
50 years of nutrition research
For more than 50 years, researchers at the University of Surrey have been investigating food and nutrition's impact on the human body.
For 20 of those 50 years, Professor Sue Lanham-New (pictured), Head of Nutritional Sciences at Surrey, has been particularly focused on vitamin D deficiency – a major cause of osteoporosis, a condition that costs the NHS an estimated £20 billion a year.
In 2011, Professor Lanham-New and her team conducted the largest-ever food fortification study that compared Vitamin D2 (the plant form of vitamin D) and vitamin D3 (the animal form of vitamin D). They challenged the widely accepted belief that both forms are equally effective in improving a person's vitamin D status. Their research, which used fortified foods instead of supplements, showed that VitD3 is much better than VitD2 in raising Vitamin D status.
Until 2016, Government nutritional scientists considered sunlight exposure during spring and summer to be sufficient to sustain vitamin D levels during the winter months. Professor Lanham-New and her team's research successfully challenged this position, leading to the first-ever vitamin D Reference Intake, which shaped new UK guidelines. Sales of vitamin D supplements increased by a third, and key food manufacturers reformulated their products to incorporate vitamin D.
Our researchers are passionate about working on challenges that benefit people in our local, national and international communities. We work with partners across other institutions, businesses and governments with a common aim – to ensure our research makes a positive impact on people's lives.
"Enhancing our grasp of nutrition, food science, and human behaviour at large has perpetually been front of mind for our University," said Professor Susan Lanham-New. "I consider myself truly fortunate to collaborate with colleagues who possess an unparalleled passion for transforming our world into a healthier, more prosperous environment for every person residing in it, and they're motivated enough to create tangible, real-world impact.
"Our team's unwavering determination can be observed not only in our groundbreaking research on vitamin D deficiency but also in the pioneering work spearheaded by Professor Margaret Rayman and Dr Sarah Bath, delving into the effects of iodine deficiency on foetal development. Their study unveiled a connection between mild-to-moderate deficiency and diminished child cognition, a factor that could potentially set young ones on a path towards poor outcomes from academia to professional life.
"Our work concerning iodine deficiency not only shifted UK policy but also prompted popular pregnancy supplements to bolster their iodine content and well-known milk alternatives to fortify their products with iodine.
"While we take immense pride in the accomplishments under our belt, including being honoured with The Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2017, I am absolutely thrilled about the promising prospects that await us in the future."
A voice and a home for everyone
People's own homes are one place everyone should feel safe and able to be themselves. Professor Andrew King has led two research projects which shed light on the significant concerns about safety and belonging that LGBTQ+ people feel in relation to housing. The work demonstrated that LGBTQ+ people often feel marginalised or ignored by housing and support associations and agencies. Affecting their very sense of self in their own homes.
This crucial work led to Professor King developing and implementing the UK's first LGBTQ+ housing equality charter, the HouseProud Pledge Scheme, which empowers residents to have an input in decision-making and staff training, among other objectives. To date, there are 15 social housing organisations that have signed up to the HouseProud Pledge – representing 1.5 million people.
"I'm delighted that our pioneering research and impact work has been able to amplify LGBTQ+ residents' concerns and take direct steps to address them," said Professor King. "Aside from creating the UK's first LGBTQ+ social housing equality scheme, we were able to submit evidence to the UK Government's Regulation of Social Housing report.
"Above all, the impact work we've achieved with HouseProud, and most importantly in collaboration with LGBTQ+ residents, shows what can be achieved when communities, stakeholders and academics work together."
Professor King's research has also provided an evidence base for LGBTQ+ organisations, including Stonewall Housing, Opening Doors, HouseProud and Tonic Housing.
Our research can be very grounded in everyday lives in ordinary communities. It can also reach for the stars...
From the blackest material to space skin
Our expertise in advanced materials science is one of many disciplines at Surrey that finds its applications at the edge of human capabilities on Earth and amongst the stars.
Born from Surrey's Advanced Technology Institute (ATI), which Professor Ravi Silva (pictured) heads up, researchers have developed what is thought to be the blackest material on earth. Vantablack is a coating that absorbs 99.96 per cent of light and has a range of applications – from preventing stray light from entering telescopes to improving the performance of infrared cameras.
Vantablack was used to showcase the BMW X6 at the 2019 Frankfurt Autoshow, and it was also used during the 2018 Winter Olympics. Vantablack was also the centrepiece of Sir Anish Mikhail Kapoor's Venice Biennale – the first British artist to hold a solo exhibition at the Gallerie dell'Accademia.
Professor Silva said, "I'm proud to have been involved in the discovery and development of Vantablack. It all started as a curiosity project to grow carbon nanotubes at low temperatures. Today, Vantablack is used worldwide in beautiful and thought-provoking sculptures by Sir Anish Kapoor. It has also made its way out of our planet and into space missions, completing more trips around the Earth than I have in my lifetime."
"It's a dream come true for anyone to see a simple student project turn into a multimillion-pound venture. I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to use some of the smallest man-made structures and systems to explore the wonderful adventures in space!"
The ATI also works closely with Airbus Defence and Space to develop nanocoating processes which can protect satellites from the harsh conditions found in space. These 'space skin' projects have led to further commercial success in the aerospace industry, with Airbus announcing a commitment of €10 million to develop patented solutions for future European Space Agency missions.
Helping blind people reset their body clock
People that are totally blind often suffer from a chronic sleep disorder because they miss out on the light-dark signals that govern our circadian rhythms.
Professor Debra Skene (pictured) has been investigating a treatment for this problem which has proved to be highly effective, thanks to a hormone that is naturally produced by our bodies. Professor Skene found that giving blind people daily tablets of melatonin, a hormone that tells the body that it is nighttime, is effective at synchronising their sleep/wake cycles and resetting their body clock.
The research has now been commercialised with the launch of tasimelteon (HETLIOZ), a melatonin-like drug which is the first licenced treatment for the treatment of cyclic sleep/wake disorder.
"Our research on melatonin and its role in synchronising sleep/wake cycles for the blind community has not only provided a tangible solution to a pressing issue but also considerably advanced the field of circadian rhythm research," explains Professor Skene. "The successful commercialisation of tasimelteon (HETLIOZ) exemplifies the power of translating academic discoveries into real-world applications, ultimately paving the way for further breakthroughs in sleep and chronobiology studies."
The power of rubbish
In response to the 2001 economic crisis in Argentina, countless artists and writers collaborated with waste-pickers to create low-cost handmade books using discarded materials. With the goal of making literature accessible to everybody during that difficult time, the movement, known as Cartonera, grew to be a sustainable publishing model that soon spread across and beyond Latin America.
Inspired by the movement, Dr Lucy Bell launched the Cartonera Publishing Project to explore how the model can help to transform the lives of vulnerable and marginalised communities.
Contributing to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, Dr Bell and her team worked with publishers, writers, artists, curators and librarians on the ground in Argentina, Mexico and Brazil to design programmes to empower communities facing violence, stigma and exclusion. They delivered a writing and book-making workshop to a range of communities – including indigenous and rural groups, homeless people and imprisoned women.
The project inspired 1,000 people to write, publish and change their life stories. These include Mutirão (Task Force), a book by homeless people and housing activists, which exposes the very serious problem of homelessness and inequality in Brazil. Another example is Wind and Mirrors, a book by nine female prisoners in Mexico reflecting on their lives and their futures.
These are just some of the highlights of our research and innovation. Research that changes lives. Research that is commercialised, creates jobs and drives growth and progress. But we don’t stop.
Our eyes are always on the future and the grand challenges the world faces.
Want to know more? Stay tuned to our research pages, or for regular updates, sign up for our Surrey Headlines newsletter.
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