FACE Research Seminar Series May 2025

Centre for People’s Justice 
Dr Karen Heald, Reader in Interdisciplinary Art Practice and Dr Tegan Brierley-Sollis, Lecturer in Policing, Criminology And Trauma Informed Approaches were up first talking about the really exciting, newly launched Centre for People’s Justice.

Being just 21 days into the project, the team provided an overview of centre for context:

• Funded by Arts Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the centre is being led by Liverpool University, working in partnership with Glasgow, London (SAS), Sheffield, Swansea, Ulster and Wrexham universities.
• The centre aims to bring together academic, civil society, government and the creative, corporate and legal sectors.
• In support of the centre there is the People’s Justice Network which includes members of grassroots organisations, legal, government and charitable organisations as well as additional academic colleagues from each university mentioned above.
• The four main areas that the centre aim to work within are children and childhood; work, welfare and care; violence and conflict, and the role of corporations in communities

Some of the notable process features include workshops featuring researchers at all stages of their career (early through to senior), a mentor scheme for early career researchers, the aim for 80% of all funding to go to grassroots organisations and community steering groups for each of the four identified work areas.

The team have identified five centre values that were described as the “personality and spirit of the centre”:

• Empower people
• Show Care
• Build Trust
• Mobilise Action
• Inspire Change

Another couple of key features of the centre are the trauma-informed approach that is being built into all the centre does, with a lens on organisational/individual/intergenerational and societal trauma, alongside the creative research methods and interdisciplinary methodologies. With three artists in residence for the duration of the five-year project various outputs will be used including film, multi-media and performative objects with collaboration and co-creation woven into the centre. 

We look forward to following the journey. 

International Universities Power Engineering Conference

Dr Yuriy Vagapov shared his experience of presenting two papers at the 59th International Universities Power Engineering Conference (UPEC) in Cardiff in September 2024. 

With the first conference taking place in 1965, UPEC is the oldest electrical engineering conference in Europe. Yuriy shared that this flagship conference is held in high esteem and is a wonderful networking opportunity, however as with many large-scale events, it has certainly felt the long term effects of the global pandemic and a shift in how people choose to convene for such events. 

During the 2024, Yuriy presented two papers:

• Prototype testing of rim driven fan technology for high-speed aircraft electrical propulsion.
  This paper relates to the FAST fan technology which is the development of a novel type of fan for high-speed electrically powered flight. An innovative high-thrust electric fan project that is being headed up by Dr Robert Bolam here at Wrexham University. Find out more.

• Practical learning of DSP-based motor control for engineering students. 
  With digital advancements in modern engineering, students are often required to know how to programme and code, this would have previously been a computing student requirement rather than an engineering student requirement. Yuriy’s paper discusses the tools now available to help engineering students avoid programming and coding.

The 60th UPEC is taking place at Brunel University of London from 2nd – 5th September 2025, find out more.

The Atmosphere and Air Travel
Last up was Dr Robert Bolam, Reader in Aeronautical Engineering who provided a fascinating insight into the atmosphere and air travel.

Did you know that the earth’s atmosphere that supports all known life in the universe extends just 19miles from sea level?

The atmosphere consists of five ‘layers’: troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere, each of which have varying temperatures. In terms of commercial flights, the optimum is for a higher flight altitude which reduces drag and burns less fuel. Flights currently operate in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere.

A few of the thought-provoking facts that Rob shared include:

• Engineering brought about global warming and engineering will provide the solutions, however this is driven by political will.
• There were 38 million commercial flights last year, yet aviation doesn’t have the biggest impact on global warming (cars and factories have a greater impact). Aviation contributes to approximately 2.5% of total CO2 Emissions.
• Jet engines are currently less than 50% efficient, with the waste going into the atmosphere.
• Vapour trails from jet engines are a contributor to greenhouse warming gases with crystals blocking the sun. Hydrogen propulsion, which is currently being explored as an alternative in commercial flight, has the disadvantages of producing vapour trails, alongside the need for it to be stored at -256˚  which requires specially designed wing tanks.

Rob highlighted the current challenges being to reduce fossil fuel burn, maintain or improve on current jet travel economics and integrate with existing airline infrastructures. Rob talked through potential alternative being explored and how the FAST-Fan project has indicated a compelling case for rim-driven technology for use in larger aircraft as it offers a compact, efficient and lightweight alternative to small fan-jet engines. It offers lower core temperatures than a jet engine and is easier to monitor and control, quieter and offer much greater values of specific thrust. Rob and colleagues are working with industry and partners to model an efficient high-thrust, high-speed and zero-emission rim-driven propulsion device. 

Exciting stuff!