Why work with us
City University London is a professional and reliable business partner. Our academics and professional staff have exellent first-hand experience of engaging with private, public and third-sector organisations.
Please see below a list of case studies hightlighting our recent and most interesting projects:
Sensing success - a breakthrough in optical sensor technology
Corrosion in steel-reinforced concrete is an issue that demands careful monitoring. It occurs if the pH value of a concrete matrix decreases, which reduces a structure's lifespan and has serious implications for health and safety.
Professor Tong Sun from the School of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (SEMS) has developed an optical pH sensor that is more compact, has a wider operating range and a longer operating life than other devices on the market.
As well as being an essential tool for the construction sector, this technology also has applications in areas as diverse as process control and glaciology.
Promoting healthy eating in schools
Following research which showed that children are ignoring school-based healthy eating initiatives and instead bingeing on junk food, some local authorities, professional organisations and NGOs are campaigning for the next London Local Authorities Bill to allow local authorities across London to regulate the location of fast food outlets.
New research from City's Centre for Food Policy's suggests that the Government is failing in one of its key battles against obesity. Although campaigns to raise awareness about the benefits of healthy food appear to have worked, students interviewed said that junk food was better value. The researchers proposed that secondary schools could encourage more students to eat healthily by heavily subsidising healthy food in school canteens, or making it free.
Creating professional guidelines for Optometrists
Professor John Lawrenson from City's School of Community and Health Sciences has been commissioned by the College of Optometrists to create and update a set of evidence-based Clinical Management Guidelines (CMGs). The work was undertaken in partnership with Professor Roger Buckley at Anglia Ruskin University.
This work forms part of their e-formulary, which aims to provide guidance for qualified eye professionals in prescribing medicine for the treatments of more than 60 eye conditions.
The next phase of the work will see Professor Lawrenson involved in reviewing and updating the guidelines as well as testing and validating software which, it is hoped, will provide optometrists with a diagnostic toolkit of eye conditions.
Lighting, Well-being and Performance at Work
Professor Jo Silvester and Dr Efrosyni Konstantinou from the Centre for Performance at Work were commissioned by Philips to undertake a research into the work environments that can best meet the needs of 21st century workers and ensure maximum levels of well-being and performance.
Based on the research findings the team has recommended that companies should consider the need to invest in workplace lighting as a means to develop work environments that support well-being and performance, and reduce the likelihood of employee stress, absenteeism, and industrial accidents. Companies also need to adopt a holistic approach to health and well-being that identifies the needs of different employee groups and addresses them through a combination of company-wide and worker-centred initiatives.
It's full steam ahead for Heliex Power with a £2M investment
City's spin-out business, Heliex Power, was created from the research and development activities of Professors Ian Smith and Nikola Stosic at the Compressor Centre within the School of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences. It is managed by entrepreneur Dan Wright. Following a £2M industrial investment in late 2010, Heliex Power will design, manufacture and sell twin screw steam expanders. The steam expander is essentially a novel type of rotary steam engine that will be used to generate electrical power to feed into the electricity supply grid. This steam engine recovers energy from waste steam produced in industries such as manufacturing and power generation and from geothermal energy.
Colour Vision Testing
Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) is a progressive eye disease which affects the quality of life of millions of individuals. Developed by Professor John Barbur from City's Department of Optometry and Visual Sciences, the product provides early detection screening tests that reveal changes in colour vision years before retinopathy can be detected clinically, and so prevention can be introduced. A prototype has been created and successfully field tested and clients so far include the CAA (UK) and the FAA (US) to conduct sight tests on pilots. Our assistance includes the development of a sustainable business model that achieves scalability and optimises financial performance.
The Printers Charitable Corporation (PCC) and City University London
As the leading charity for the UK printing industry, the PCC provides help across the graphic arts and communications industries. It owns and runs sheltered and residential care homes and offers financial assistance to those in need.
In order to improve its organisational and marketing strategies, and to reassess its strategic direction for the 21st century, the charity recruited City University London graduate Chun-Yi Yu to work with them on a KTP project. Mentor support was provided by Professor Paul Palmer, Director of the MSc in Charity Fundraising and Marketing, and Dr Rob Melvill, Reader in Internal Audits and Management at Cass Business School.
As a direct result of the KTP, the PCC not only met the new public benefit requirements of the 2006 Charities Act, but also devised a new five-year plan to reconcile its mission with the many challenges facing voluntary sector organisations.
Steven Gilbert, the PCC's Chief Executive, said: "We've developed, test-marketed and are now implementing our new services: PCC Helps, PCC Homes, PCC Links and PCC Income. The KTP has been of immense value in planning for our future and working towards our objective of helping more people in the printing, publishing, graphic and allied trades".
CitySpark 2011 business plan competition - the winners
At the CitySpark 2011 finals in March, organic food entrepreneur Keith Abel awarded first prize - £5,000 and a place in the London City Incubator – to Backscratcher.com, a skills exchange and community website for creative industry professionals built by School of Arts Masters students Jody Osbourne and Patrick Elliott.
Second prize of £2,500 was awarded to Flatz, a new company formed by two Maths undergraduates… and… making luxury flat shoes for the elegant but foot-sore women visiting London’s high-end nightclubs.
Finally, third prize went to undergraduate eInformatics students for GymBuddy, a device and web solution to help gym members stay committed and get healthy. See www.city.ac.uk/cityspark for more.