Research staff case studies
Here you can read about the experiences of some of our research staff.
Dr Thomas Wainwright
Researcher, Faculty of Business and Law
Thomas explains how Kingston has supported his attendance at international conferences: "The University has been supportive of my work and has provided me with the resources to attend international conferences which have assisted me in the development of academic networks. I have also received guidance in the development of grant applications to fund projects."
"I'm a postdoctoral researcher in my second year at the Small Business Research Centre (SBRC), based here in Kingston University. Currently, I'm undertaking research on small businesses and I am particularly interested in how they interact with larger corporations, the government and society
"I recently completed research on the impact that the recession has had on small businesses and how they are coping in the economic recovery. This was subsequently presented to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS). More recently, I have begun work on a research project that explores 'older entrepreneurship' in London, and how it could be used as a vehicle to solve growing social and political issues.
"I have found the Centre's international contacts impressive, and I am currently collaborating on a project with colleagues based in Finland, with the support of the Faculty. This has enabled me to begin publishing a new range of papers through the encouragement and mentoring of the Centre's research staff. In addition to 'blue sky' research, I've also worked with leading companies on applied projects, which was an interesting way of using academic expertise to inform businesses and policy-makers.
"The Faculty provides a stimulating environment in which to work, and I have had the time and autonomy to publish papers from my doctoral thesis and to develop ideas for future research projects. The University has also been supportive of my work and has provided me with the resources to attend international conferences which have assisted me in the development of academic networks within the field. Looking to the future, I have received guidance in the development of grant applications to fund projects that meet my research interests, as principal investigator.
"The proximity of Kingston University to London places me close to a dynamic economy and government departments that makes undertaking research in my field far easier; and by working at Kingston I'm also able to live in London and enjoy all that it has to offer. As an early career researcher, Kingston has provided me with many opportunities to build a firm foundation for my future."
Dr Fiona Jones
Reader, Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education
Fiona talks about the balance in her role between research, enterprise and teaching: "I currently enjoy the balance I have in my role between research, enterprise and teaching.... The open and supportive atmosphere of the Faculty has allowed [my] work to grow, and the enterprise work now compliments my ongoing research programme."
"I am a reader in rehabilitation in the Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education. Since joining the Faculty in 2002, I have gained my PhD and was promoted to reader in 2010. My research has always focused on people after stroke, which is currently the largest cause of disability in the UK.
"I have long been interested in how people cope and manage after they have experienced a stroke. My PhD led to the development and testing of a self-management programme, and this work has now grown and developed into many other related projects. Stroke research has been dominated by studies which investigate the cause and prevention; despite this there are still over 110,000 new strokes every year.
"Currently there is very little research funding to evaluate the best methods of supporting people once they have experienced a stroke. However, in 2011 I was awarded a grant from Research for Patient Benefit to study the feasibility of an individualised self-management programme in four different stroke teams. This was my first major grant award as principle investigator and I gained great support from colleagues from within the Faculty. Being given the time to develop ideas and meet with other researchers to develop the proposal was a critical part of the success, and I was able to draw on the expertise of colleagues from within Kingston University, St George's University of London and neighbouring institutions.
"I currently enjoy the balance I have in my role between research, enterprise and teaching. The stroke self-management programme has now developed into a training package for healthcare practitioners and we carry out training for stroke teams across the UK. A stroke workbook given to people after stroke is an integral part of the programme – known as ‘Bridges-stroke self-management' – and I work with an advisory group that consists of people living with stroke, their carers and stroke specialists. The open and supportive atmosphere of the Faculty has allowed this work to grow, and the enterprise work now compliments my ongoing research programme in stroke and self-management.
"St George's NHS Acute Trust is ranked as one of the top performing stroke centres, and being based within the joint Faculty, having easy access to the South London Stroke research network, clinical and academic colleagues, has really benefitted my research output. I also collaborate with researchers from King's College London, Guys and St Thomas's, University of Nottingham, Surrey and Ulster, and the Royal Holloway University. In my previous job, my travel time was a minimum of three hours; I now have a 30-minute cycle ride to work, and have easy access to all my research colleagues and stroke teams across London.
"By the end of this year we will have carried out 60 workshops to stroke teams across the UK, training in our programme which is continually informed by research. Our stroke self-management programme has been mentioned in National and London Stroke commissioning guidance policy, and I now have a number of PhD students working in related areas, exploring barriers to participation, and self-management after stroke. My plan for the future is to develop a centre of research and training for stroke and self-management, to place greater emphasis on how we can best support people to get back on with their lives after stroke."
Dr Vasilis Argyriou
Senior lecturer, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing
Vasilis talks about how Kingston has provided him, as an early career researcher, with opportunities to build a firm foundation for the future: "I have found the Centre's international contacts impressive applying high quality academic research to the solution of real industrial problems. I am currently collaborating on a project with colleagues based in Spain and Greece."
"I'm a senior lecturer in my second year at Kingston University. Currently, I'm undertaking research on computer vision with applications in games, surveillance and robotics.
"Computer games have attracted a wide market over the past few years, and their appeal may be further enhanced through vision-based inputs. I organised and chaired the international workshop on Computer Vision for Computer Games (CVCG), part of the CVPR conference, to bring together game industry and researchers on video processing, action recognition, real time systems and robotics (CVCG 2010 and CVCG 2011). The second CVCG2011 workshop was organised in collaboration with Microsoft.
"Currently my research is focused on action recognition using depth information and features obtained from the estimated optical flow. More recently, I have begun work on a research project on 3D object reconstruction and albedo estimation with applications in inspection, surveillance, forensics, entertainment, medicine and defence. Photometric stereo (PS) and structured light (SL) have been developed for this reason. Basically the issue is to be able to do 3D reconstruction with PS and SL for any type of reflectance function, not just Lambertian or Lambertian plus highlights. Therefore, I am conducting research in that area and we will focus on photometric stereo methodologies creating models for object shape and texture changes with and without knowing the illumination directions.
"I am part of the Digital Imaging Research Centre (DIRC) and I have found the Centre's international contacts impressive applying high quality academic research to the solution of real industrial problems. I am currently collaborating on a project with colleagues based in Spain and Greece, with the support of the Faculty. This has enabled me to begin publishing a new range of papers through the encouragement and mentoring of the Centre's research staff. In addition, the industrial contacts helped me to obtain support from major companies in the game industry such as SONY.
"The Faculty provides an inspiring environment in which to work and I have had the time and autonomy to conduct research and publish papers on motion estimation and 3D reconstruction and to further develop ideas for future research projects. The University has also been supportive of my work and has provided me with the resources to organise the CVCG workshop, which have assisted me in the development of academic networks within the field. Currently I am supervising three PhD students working on 3D virtual interfaces; 3D reconstruction for medical applications; and multiple action recognition for games. Looking to the future, I have received guidance in the development of grant applications to fund projects that meet my research interests, as principal investigator.
"The proximity of Kingston University to London places me close to other major universities that makes undertaking research in my field far easier, and by working at Kingston I'm also able to live in London and enjoy all that it has to offer. As an early career researcher, Kingston has provided me with many opportunities to build a firm foundation for my future."
Dr Christos Politis
Reader, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing
Christos talks about the University's support for his work: "The Faculty provides a stimulating environment in which to work and I have had the time and autonomy to start and develop a new research group, which is now one of the most dynamic across the University. The University has also provided me with the resources to create a new MSc course."
"I'm a reader in wireless communications at the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing. Currently, I'm leading a research group called WMN (Wireless Multimedia and Networking), which undertakes research on wireless communications and multimedia.
"I have recently completed a large EU-funded project called PEACE (IP-based Emergency Application and Services for Next Generation Networks), which addressed communication disruptions during daily and extreme emergency situations. This gave my researchers and me the opportunity to collaborate with strong European research institutions and large multinationals such as Telefonica and Thales. At the same time, I am actively involved with a few small-scale UK-funded projects, which provide me with the ability to fund a wealth and breath of PhD students. Together we work in exciting new areas covering cognitive and ubiquitous communications, smart cities and wireless ecosystems and security frameworks for complex ad-hoc systems to support emergency workers.
"Additionally I am involved in WWRF (Wireless World Research Forum) and eMobility advisory boards. These two organisations act as vehicles for enabling, promoting and disseminating research on a global scale and are funded by large multinationals and the EU. This involvement enables my team to publish in a wide range of international conferences and reputable journals. In addition to 'blue sky' research, I've also been working with Kingston's business development people on applying our research to real projects, with the potential outcome of creating our own products and services and how knows even a University spin-out.
"The Faculty provides a stimulating environment in which to work and I have had the time and autonomy to start and develop a new research group, which is now one of the most dynamic across the University. The University has also been supportive of my work and has provided me with the resources to grow the WMN research group; create a new MSc course on wireless communications; participate in several international meetings, workshops, conferences; and even host my own here at Kingston.
"Finally, the proximity of Kingston University to London places me close to a dynamic economy and government departments that makes undertaking research in my field much easier. Also Kingston being close to both Heathrow and Gatwick airports helps me and my collaborators save time and reduce our carbon footprint (I am frequently required to travel internationally for my work)."
