Research at Derby follows an interdisciplinary approach, with our experts collaborating across six academic themes. Aligned to some of the biggest local and global challenges facing society, this approach brings our experts and partners together to develop innovative, effective solutions.
Here are some of the projects we are currently working on.
Biomedical and Clinical Science: Optimising Performance and Training - an Interactionist Perspective
Ground-breaking research at Derby is exploring the impacts of personality and born characteristics on an individual’s training and performance, with implications for a psychology-based approach to anti-doping intervention and education.
Led by Dr Shuge Zhang, Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology, the team has investigated how individuals with high levels of narcissism perform when there is the opportunity for personal glory and when there isn’t.
Building on the identified link between narcissism and performance, the researchers explored how specific psychological skills may help individuals with narcissistic traits to train better.
Narcissistic traits are associated with performance potential, including seeing challenging performance situations as an opportunity for personal glory, rather than a threat. Given the high level of narcissistic traits in competitive athletes, the researchers further investigated how they can reduce possible risks associated with narcissism, that might prevent the fulfilment of personal success in sport.
These risks include intentional doping or the use of banned substances to facilitate training and for performance enhancement. The team found that adopting a compassionate mind that acknowledges adversities, failures, or negative emotions and experiences as a common, shared element in competitive sport, can help mitigate the narcissism-associated risk for doping.
When approaching injury, deselection, or setbacks with a more accepting mind, athletes high in narcissism are more likely to recuperate and re-engage in routine training and performance, rather than risking their sporting career taking banned substances for training and performance enhancement.
The researchers have developed this new line of research into an international collaborative research programme between the UK (University of Derby, University of Birmingham), US (University of Illinois), and China (Sun Yat-Sen University), with funding support from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Zero Carbon: Using abandoned mines to tap into geothermal energy
A team of researchers at the University of Derby has been investigating the potential to use mine water heat as a source of renewable energy – helping to address calls for sustainable solutions to tackle climate change.
The Derby team – Low Carbon Researcher Dr Hirbod Varasteh, Early Career Academic Dr Tugba Gurler, Concentrated Solar Power Researcher Dr Zaharaddeen Hussaini and Zero Carbon Theme Lead Professor Christopher Sansom – tested two potential heat capturing systems at Creswell Mine in North Derbyshire.
An open-loop geothermal system extracts groundwater from the well into a heat pump and a closed-loop geothermal system continuously circulates a mixture of antifreeze solution in underground pipes connected to a heat pump.
The team found that the open-loop system had better heat transfer and can recover heat more efficiently and they are now taking the project to the next stage with a feasibility study of the demonstrator.
Data Science: Supporting Bloc Digital’s business growth
Derby-based Bloc Digital is one of the UK’s leading immersive digital technology studios. Business and research support from the University of Derby has helped the business achieve sustained and rapid growth.
Initially Bloc worked with the University to receive training and HR policy advice from one of our Business School experts. They have continued to benefit from key opportunities including student and graduate talent recruitment, management training and research funding partnerships.
The business has also benefitted from the expertise of three PhD level researchers on two Knowledge Transfer Partnerships with us. The KTPs have meant that Bloc has significantly reduced the time and cost of delivering its VR training.
Bloc’s growth has been supported by the University’s Help to Grow management programme, offered by the Business School. A further Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) has been put in place which provides joint research and development opportunities. As a result of the partnership, Bloc is now supporting our students with business insights and masterclasses, helping them to build their skills and knowledge, ready for future employment. The partnership has also led us to working together to support the successful East Midlands Institute of Technology bid – where we jointly led several events to help the local business community understand and implement digital technology.
Public Services: Supporting families affected by Traumatic Brain Injury
Dr Charlie Whiffin, Associate Professor in Pre-Qualifying Health Care, is working on a new approach to support family members of individuals who have suffered Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
Dr Whiffin is exploring how storytelling – which is gaining in popularity in neurorehabilitation – can be used with family members, who often acutely feel the effects of the injury on themselves and experience a change in their own lives. Dr Whiffin explains:
“While there is growing recognition of the importance of family members in the recovery pathway for the injured person, there is not enough attention being given to how brain injuries change the lives of the uninjured members.”
Reconstructing identity after brain injury is considered an integral part of making sense of TBI and the process of adaptation following injury. Injured persons are encouraged to use story telling as a means of building a strengths-based identity. Working with colleagues from different universities, Dr Whiffin is exploring whether storytelling is effective in supporting the wellbeing and post-injury adjustment of family members.
The team is investigating the Life Thread approach, based on the Life Thread Model which uses a visual representation of the threads that we use to create a sense of coherence and identity.
Business, Economic and Social Policy: Identifying the economic impact of the Devonshire Group
A Knowledge Transfer Partnership with the Devonshire Group has been helping them to identify their impact on the local economy, among other strategic goals. The Group is made up of charities and businesses in the UK and Ireland, including Chatsworth House.
Supported through funding from Chatsworth, the Economic and Social Research Council and Innovate UK, one of the University's Economics graduates has been working with them to offer a solution that could be used every year to measure impact. With no standard methodology available to estimate the full economic impact of an organisation, a few approaches were identified before settling on the best approach.
Nationally, the team found that the Devonshire Group is a large employer that adds considerable value to the local and national economy. Locally, the methodology enabled Chatsworth House to measure their positive impact on the local economies. It showed that the Gross Value Added by Chatsworth was £97.6 million in 2021/22, that Chatsworth supports 1,863 jobs, and 44.3% of the Group’s spending was with local suppliers in 2021/22. The research also identified that much of the economic impact supports SMEs as many of the Group’s suppliers and tenant businesses are SMEs.
Creative and Cultural Industries: Defining freedom of the press
John Steel, Research Professor in Journalism, is leading a project investigating press regulation and ethics in the UK and 12 European countries.
The team, with colleagues from the Universities of Sheffield, Leeds and Durham, will provide evidence-based recommendations for the development of press regulation in the UK.
Today’s news gathering and reporting is multi-faceted, with both professionals and amateurs gathering and sharing stories and content. Traditional newspapers and broadcasters are now just a part of the means by which we receive news and information on a daily basis. With this in mind, the research is exploring how ‘news work’ is affected by ethics codes and regulatory environments to define freedom of the press outside traditional parameters. The team are also examining how those who consume the press and are affected by it understand and rationalise the concept of freedom of the press.
Among the audiences who will benefit from the research are both amateur and professional journalists, industry regulators and public bodies, groups campaigning on freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of the press, groups representing minorities in the UK, and the wider general public as consumers of news.
From conserving coral reefs in the face of climate change to helping people live with chronic pain, our researchers are finding solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing society.
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