Flash Talk Presenters
Abstracts for the flash talks have been published here: Flash Talk Abstracts
Dr Muhammad Naveed Arshad, Aberystwyth University
Title of talk: Landscape Decision System for Sustainable Grassland Management Through Spatial Modelling Tools
Naveed is a Research Scientist at Aberystwyth University. He has vast experience of Climate Change Studies using Crop Modeling and GIS using satellite and UAV data and land assessment/crop suitability mapping. He is deeply passionate about conducting research on environmental issues, sustainability, and socio-ecological resilience. Previously, Naveed served as an International Consultant – Agro-Ecological Zoning for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO-UN), and he developed the ‘Crop Suitability Model’. Furthermore, he has post-doctoral experience in assessing the agricultural productivity potential of Wales and identifying potential resources for bioenergy in the UK. Currently, Naveed is chairing the ECR networks of Bioenergy (SHARE – Supergen Bioenergy Hub) and Ecology (WEEN Wales)
Twitter: @naveedarshad26 LinkedIn: naveedarshadofficial
Dr Menna Brown, Swansea University
Title of Talk: Interrogating Social Prescribing
Menna is a Senior Lecturer at Swansea University, based in the Faculty of Medicine Health and Life Sciences. She currently teaches on the MSc in public health, BSc Population Health, BSc Health and Social Care and contributes to the Applied Medical Sciences BSc programme. She supervises students across all levels and acts as an academic mentor. Menna is a fellow of the Higher education academy (FHEA).
Menna successfully completed her PhD research in 2021. Her thesis ‘the development and evaluation of a digital wellbeing intervention to enhance lifestyle behaviour change’ explored the role of emotional wellbeing in sustaining and enhancing engagement to a range of physical health behaviours in an online format. Using a participatory design approach which incorporated a diverse range of stakeholders a website called ‘ACTivate your wellbeing’ and a 12-week wellbeing intervention based on acceptance and commitment therapy was developed and evaluated.
Previously Menna delivered psycho-educational group workshops for depression and anxiety management to GP referred patients. She also volunteered in the local community to deliver the Lifestyle, Education Activity and Food (LEAF) project to support disadvantaged women develop healthy lifestyle behaviours to support them and their families.
Her current research interests include digital health, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), lifestyle behaviour change and social prescribing.
Dr Richard Gater, Cardiff University
Title of Talk: The Future of Work: Addressing the Needs of Marginalised Young Men
Richard Gater is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data, Cardiff University. His research interests include social class, education, employment and masculinities. Richard’s current post-doctoral research role involves publishing from his PhD thesis, disseminating his research findings to relevant organisations and identifying opportunities to continue his research, and further exploring several important findings from his PhD study.
Non Humphries, Aberystwyth University
Title of talk: Simultaneous translation in the courts of law in Wales: a boost to the language rights of individuals and to the status of the Welsh language as a legal language
I am a second year PhD student at Aberystwyth University. My multidisciplinary research project was funded by a Margaret Wooloff Scholarship. The interest of my current research is to discover what effect the way interpreters in court translate, add or omit hesitations has on the jury’s perception of the defendant. I also have a wider interest in simultaneous translation and applied linguistics. I am one of the co-founders of Aberystwyth University’s Network of Neurodivergent Researchers, and I am Autistic and very proud of that. Beyond the PhD, I am a keen runner and swimmer and volunteer with pigs! I am also the mother of two lovely children and the wife of a husband who is also lovely.
Dr Julie Peconi, Swansea University
Title of talk: Are Welsh primary schools Sunproofed? Results of a national survey: Scoping the landscape of sun safety policies in Wales
Julie is a Senior Research Officer in Swansea Trials Unit and is the Chief Investigator of Sunproofed, a mixed methods scoping study of sun safety in primary schools in Wales. She also co-leads two spin off studies, SunChat, which explores children’s perceptions of tanning and SunView, a collaboration with Oriel Science which shows the public the power of sun cream.
Julie has over 20 years’ experience in project, trial and data management across a range of subjects including emergency care, access to healthcare, dementia and skin. A Canadian native, she received her Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario in 2000. She obtained her PhD from Swansea University in 2014, exploring issues of demand for, and outcomes of, telephone-based health care by those living in area of deprivation.
Julie is keen to promote skin and skin health in Wales and is an active volunteer with Skin Care Cymru, a charity which aims to provide a voice for those suffering with skin conditions in Wales. She is also a Trustee of the Pachyonychia Congenita (PC) Project Europe.
Dr Shubha Sreenivas, Wrexham Glyndŵr University
Title of talk: Pet-therapy using dogs to manage stress in university students
Shubha is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology (Biological) and the Programme Leader for MSc Psychology Conversion programme at Wrexham Glyndwr University. She is a Chartered Psychologist (Teaching and Research) with the British Psychological Society and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research for her masters degree focused on understanding the changes in behavioural and brain networks relating to mood disorders and later research through her PhD focused on using implicit self-attribution measures to monitor and predict improvement in mood and wellbeing of individuals experiencing clinical depression. Prior to starting her PhD, Shubha worked with the Bangor Clinical Trials (NWORTH) as the Data Manager and supported several multi-centred trials within and outside the UK. After completing her PhD and before joining Wrexham University, she worked in the Older Adults Psychology Services at Betsi Cadwaldr University Health Board (BCUHB) as an Assistant Psychologist to support dementia diagnosis by undertaking neuropsychological assessments and improve service users’ wellbeing post diagnosis.
LinkedIn: shubha-sreenivas-418564177
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5559-4278