This project centres on developing innovative digital technologies to attract shoppers back to the high street and, subsequently, increase footfall and spend. Through using next generation retail ‘Spot Market’ and augmented reality technologies, delivered through multiple channels, including shoppers’ smart phone devices, a complementary and enabling digital layer will be created to support the traditional high street retailing environment. In particular, this will: • Empower local businesses to issue targeted and relevant offers based on preferences which consumers have agreed to share. • Generate higher conversion rates and resultant sales for local retailers as a result of this technological innovation enabling greater relevancy and improved referrals. • Increase footfall to, and provide enhanced navigation of, the high street – especially for businesses not occupying traditionally considered ‘prime retail’ locations – by creating greater visibility of an areas ‘total high street proposition’. • Define a new business model for the delivery of next generation retail Spot Market technologies. This project represents a collaborative approach between Kent County Council, Microsoft, Canterbury City Council, Canterbury City Partnership and Think Agency. Additionally, the involvement of both local and technical partners offers opportunities to develop a clear route to market – as well as early market testing opportunities. The project is also fortunate to benefit from the input of one of Microsoft’s top global experts on next generation retail Spot Market technologies – James Whittaker – to support the feasibility and prototype development. Initial scoping work has demonstrated that all necessary technologies upon which this project is dependent are currently available, and given that this project will be using open standards, the resultant product will be both scalable and transferable to other UK high street locations.

Background: In 2015 began a large migration process in large parts of the EU. Many countries and education systems were challenged, and had different ways of creating intercultural competence. The need for this became a most important educational perspective and was emphasized in international agreements by the UN, UNESCO and the Council. Two of the EU’s eight key competences is about this. All educational programs within the EU tells us that respect for the individual, diversity, openness and tolerance towards other cultures must be stated as major objectives and an ambition to live together with in our global, multicultural complex world. The need to exchange and share experiences is crucial on issues regarding the mapping of the student’s previous school experiences, learning processes based om previous school experience, the methodology of work and the guidance to inclusion. The project aimed to increase the knowledge of the participating countries, England, Belgium and Sweden.Objectives: ORGANIZATIONS WITH COMPETENCE TO EFFECTIVELY SUPPORT YOUNG NEWCOMERS TO BE INCLUDED IN EDUCATION OR TRAININGFour development objectives: To share our experience around the Mapping /screening process, Initial learning processes, Methodology/tools used and the Guidance provided. Participating organisations: The Local School Authority of Helsingborg with about 4000 employees and offers preschool, primary school, lower and upper secondary school and free-time arrangements to about 20 000 young children and students. The educational center is a supportive department of this Authority. In 2014 the Department got a mission to develop the mapping of newly arrived children and young people's previous school experiences. Kent County Council is a large local authority in the South East corner of England. It has responsibility for a number of public services such as education, transport, strategic planning, social services, public safety and waste disposal. With a staff workforce of nearly 20 000 people it is also one of the largest employers in the county.AGSO, Antwerp is the general service organizing the Community Education in the city of Antwerp.It consists of 5 big divisions and in total the AGSO has about 55 000 students and 6545 teachers and other employees. Antwerp is a city of 510 000 inhabitants and about 165 nationalities entailing all the complexities and challenges of diversity. GO! Brussels is responsible for providing community education in Dutch speaking Belgium on behalf of the Flemish community. GO! is one of the three main educational networks in Flanders. GO! provides education from nursery school, through compulsory school age through to adult education and including schools and provides curriculum development and teacher training for staff in its 773 schools for 27 000 members of staff serving 200 000 students.Description of activities: The project processed four themes as part of the action of bringing the newcomer into the school system of the receiving country. Starting with a transnational training event of one week, on to a project meeting, finally four local training and dissemination events, the themes were explored to find good practice in the ongoing work. During each training event each partner organized a mix of shadowing, discussion, filming of good practice, SWOT analysis, GLL reflection and report writing in the group. This report was brought back to the steering group to be used in the next project meeting and to be presented by one of the group members. The project meetings were built around theoretical input by researchers, reports from the transnational training event, input from the hosting partner on the current theme and lead to dialogue on what will be wise start doing or keep on doing in the ongoing work. The local training and dissemination events disseminated findings from the project meeting to a wider group of staff and stakeholders. Results and impact:1:Encourage the use of trans language and provide support in mother-tongue/strongest language in all learning and guidance processes. 2:Encourage the creation of multi-disciplinary teams around schools to support newcomers. 3:Encourage the exchange and the adaptation of existing methods and approaches on an EU-level via open licenses and networks.4:Encourage comprehensive and long-term guidance in order to improve learning pathways, integration and wellbeing of the newcomer.5:A methodological result. The concise planning of the different work phases presented in the description of activities was a factor of success for the project. Out of this the “Policy recommendations” brochure is created by the steering group. Long term benefits: When stakeholders and policymakers agree on the results presented in the “Policy recommendations”, and start organising work according to this, it will give young newcomers more opportunity to participate in inclusive education. It also will strengthen the teaching profession.

Despite efforts to raise awareness of the challenges of sustainable development and environmental issues, such as depleting oil reserves, toxic waste, climate change and water shortages, individual behaviour has been slow to change. The proposed study explores the efficacy of an innovative bottom-up social marketing approach to encourage pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) using hairdressers as 'catalytic individuals' to diffuse knowledge and practices relating to responsible chemical, energy and water use across their social networks. Hairdressers use a lot of energy, water and chemicals, but our research last year (Baden, 2010) indicated that, despite the increased concerns and public pronouncements on the importance of sustainability, little awareness has filtered into the hairdressing sector. This lack of attention to environmental issues by hairdressers then constitutes a social norm that is antagonistic to sustainability awareness, especially hair-washing, drying and colouring, which are activities that are also carried out at home. Thus the study aims to engage hairdressers, both in developing their own PEBs, and as 'catalytic individuals' to help perpetrate more pro-environmental social norms across their social networks. The proposed study will be in the form of action research: Action: Selected hairdressers will be interviewed to assess their current sustainability practices and extent to which they provide a model of PEBs (e.g. reduced toxicity of hair products, water conservation, low use of energy in terms of drying and style) either through their practices or through their conversations with customers. Our pilot research found zero examples of such environmental awareness, but a willingness to engage with the topic further. Twenty five hairdressers will then be invited to an event to raise awareness of environmental issues in their work and encouraged to come up with their own ideas to reduce environmental impacts. We plan to create positive attitudes towards the project by making the event fun, with good refreshments and inspirational speakers, and offering free samples of eco-friendly products. A follow up event will be held four months later to share what worked and what didn't and engage the hairdressers in developing best practice benchmarks for their industry, and to enable them to attain the Steps Towards Environmental Management (STEM) certification. We plan to hold two events and two follow-up events, with a total sample size of 50 hairdressers. The research part of the action research will look at how hairdressers can be used to disseminate information about PEBs to the general public. Social networking theory proposes that information is best disseminated by weak ties (Granovetter, 1973). Diffusion of Innovations theory explores social networks and their role in influencing the spread of new ideas and practices. Of all occupations, hairdressers spend the most time generally chatting to a wide variety of people and comprise a weak tie for many. The research plans to explore the extent to which hairdressers involved in the development of environmental benchmarks talk to their customers and other colleagues about sustainability and act as a diffuser of information and practice on PEBs in areas related to the use of water, electricity and chemicals. This is a cross disciplinary proposal which brings some of the theoretical insights from the disparate areas of network modeling (social network theory, diffusion theory); social psychology (e.g. self-determination theory, social learning theory, social norms) and marketing (word of mouth marketing, social marketing, catalytic individuals) and sustainability management together in one project that has real potential, both to transform a particular sector, and to test the efficacy of developing a more innovative and bottom-up approach to social marketing to address our urgent need for a transition to a low carbon economy.

We are living in an era of Big data with the rapid technological developments in information technologies and communications providing an unprecedented amount of data and new forms of data. Big data is now an integral part of our daily lives and are routinely produced by local government and business. In these settings, data production is just a by-product of the activities local government or business are involved in: most often, this information is collected for a specific purpose but very little use is made of these data-sets beyond the original purpose they were designed for. The challenge is how we can make better use of these types of information to improve our quality of life and foster economic growth. If combined together, these datasets can provide valuable information and insights into how businesses and local authorities work, the ways in which improvements to services can be made or businesses become more successful and efficient in their operation. Big data can provide local authorities and businesses additional information which can help them to design better policies and improve their business operations. To date, very little data of this type has been available for social scientific research in a systematic way. The aim of the new Smart Data Analytics (SDA) for Business and Local Government research centre is to utilise this explosion of information for social scientific research to answer questions that affect all our lives. For example, in an era of austerity and belt-tightening for local authorities, how can they make best use of limited resources to deliver the highest quality service to residents including across health and social care provision, education, crime reduction, housing and transport? By using data sources collected by local authorities for their administrative purposes we can start to unravel some of these questions and make relevant and timely policy recommendations. We have partnered with three local councils in Kent, Essex and Norfolk who are keen to work with academic researchers to learn from the information they hold to improve their service delivery but at present do not fully utilise. We have also partnered with businesses who wish to understand how we can foster and support economic growth, particularly for small and medium enterprises and start-ups. What are the barriers these businesses face and how can Big data help us understand the best means of overcoming these? The SDA will establish a secure data facility at the University of Essex where Big data from a variety of sources are stored and matched so to produce new information which can be useful to both local authorities and businesses. At the same time, the facility will give researchers, local authorities and businesses a point of access to Big data and expertise and support in using those data. There are clearly many issues of data privacy and confidentiality to be considered and the Centre will develop safe methods of handling, anonymising and linking data to ensure the confidentiality of businesses and individuals is maintained and respected. The Centre will also carry out research into how Big data can best be analysed as some of the methods used for more standard forms of data such as social surveys may not apply. We have an innovative substantive research programme articulated in a set of research streams designed to focus on key policy issues: (i) Methodological advances in Big Data analysis; (ii) Local economic growth, (iii) Support for vulnerable people; and (iv) the Green Infrastructure. The Centre will also provide training and support to new researchers, businesses and local authorities and engage actively with both businesses and local authorities through tailored knowledge exchange activities which will draw on the expertise built in the Centre. The new Centre promises to be an exciting development that will not only advance knowledge but have a positive impact on our quality of life.

There is a growing body of evidence which describes the social inclusion role of museums and the role that museums play in improving health and wellbeing, including previous research funded by the AHRC. This research has shown that engaging in museums provides: positive social experiences, leading to reduced social isolation; opportunities for learning and acquiring news skills; calming experiences, leading to decreased anxiety; increased positive emotions, such as optimism, hope and enjoyment; increased self-esteem and sense of identity; increased inspiration and opportunities for meaning making; positive distraction from clinical environments, including hospitals and care homes; and increased communication between families, carers and health professionals. Given the wide range of benefits it is not surprising that more and more museums and galleries are adapting their access programmes to consider the wider social, health and wellbeing benefits that museum encounters can bring about. From museum object handling to reminiscence sessions, through to interactive exhibitions, tours, talks and participatory arts and creative activities, museums offer a diverse range of opportunities for active engagement. With over 2500 museums in the UK alone, most of which are free, museums offer a largely untapped resource as places which can support public health. Museums, however, are very well placed to address issues such as social isolation, physical and mental ill-health and evidence suggests that museums can help to build social capital and resilience, and improve health and wellbeing. The Health and Social Care Act (2012) is bringing about considerable changes to the way health and social care services will be delivered in the future. A key part of these health reforms sees a shift towards 'prevention is better than cure', within a model which will require a multi-agency approach with an increased reliance on third sector organisations such as charities, voluntary and community organisations. Part of the reason for the health reforms is the realisation that individuals are living longer but with unhealthier lifestyles, with a significant increase in age- and lifestyle-related diseases, such as dementia and diabetes; this places added pressure on health services (including the NHS) and social services. It has also been shown that there is a 'social gradient' in relation to health, whereby individuals from poorer socio-economic backgrounds experience reduced health, wellbeing and social resilience. It is easy to see how museums could fit into this new era of health commissioning considering the benefits described above. One of the biggest challenges facing the museums sector is understanding how best to meet these needs; here lessons from arts-in-health could help inform the museums sector. Over the past few decades arts-in-health has gained considerable support, backed up by a robust evidence base. Many arts organisations have developed more formalised relationships with health and social care providers, offering schemes described as 'social prescribing'. Social prescribing links patients in primary care with local sources of support within the community. The proposed research seeks to test a novel 'Museums on Prescription' scheme (MoP). The research will link museums with health and social care providers, and third sector organisations such as AgeUK, and using lessons learnt from arts-based social prescribing schemes, will set up two MoPs, one in Central London and one regional MoP in Kent. By working closely with health/social care service users, and museum, health, social care and third sector professionals, the research will use a range of techniques, including quality of health measures, interviews and questionnaires, to develop a MoP model which can be adopted by the museums sector as a way to provide a novel public health intervention.