Elastic instabilities are ubiquitous, from the wrinkles that form on skin to the ‘snap-through’ of an umbrella on a windy day. The complex patterns such instabilities make, and the great speed with which they develop, have led to a host of technological and scientific applications. However, recent experiments have revealed significant gaps in our theoretical understanding of such instabilities, particularly in the roles played by geometry and dynamics. I will establish a group to develop and validate a theoretical framework within which these results can be understood. Central to my approach is an appreciation of the crucial role of geometry in the pattern formation and dynamics of elastic instabilities. As a starting point, I will consider the model problem of a pressurized elastic shell subject to a geometrically large deformation. This system develops either wrinkles or a stress-focusing instability depending on the internal pressure. As such, this is a natural paradigm with which to understand geometrical features of deformation relevant across length scales from deformed viruses to the subduction zones in Earth’s tectonic plates. My team will combine theoretical and computational approaches with tabletop experiments to determine a new set of shell deformations that are generically observed in contradiction of the classic ‘mirror buckling’. Understanding why these new shapes emerge will transform our perception of shell instabilities and provide new fundamental building blocks with which to model them. These ideas will also be used to transform our understanding of a number of other, previously mysterious, elastic instabilities of practical interest. Turning our focus to the dynamics of instabilities such as the snap-through of shells, we will show that accounting for geometry is again crucial. The new insight gained through this project will increase our ability to control elastic instabilities, benefitting a range of technological and scientific applications.

ReMedIt aims to provide the first historical reconstruction of the evolution of views on the medieval Italian vernacular literary tradition in Italy during the period that leads to the formation of an established canon of vernacular literary authors (1476-1530). The project focuses on the reception of the poetic tradition, in particular the extensive Italian lyric tradition (c. 1230-c. 1330) preceding Petrarch, one encompassing over two hundred authors. The project interrogates three main interrelated research strands: 1) the differing value judgements concerning the vernacular poetic past before Petrarch, both implicit ones (such as the selection of poets, their ordering, and the amount of attention afforded them in different poetic anthologies) and explicit comments and judgements; 2) the complex processes – material, interpretative, exegetical and cultural – that bring about the recovery of the medieval lyric tradition and generate knowledge related to it; and 3) the literary influence that this tradition exercised upon verse production during the same period 1476-1530 in the output of nine authors. In order to reconstruct the differing views regarding the genesis and historical development of the earlier Italian literary tradition, the project offers a novel interdisciplinary approach. It does this by integrating the study of how Renaissance poets were influenced by thirteenth- and fourteenth-century authors with an assessment of their critical reception and of the contemporary processes of recovery of their texts. In doing so, ReMedIt will offer a fuller and enriched understanding of this seminal period in the development of the history and codification of the vernacular literary tradition, thereby providing a case study that will be valuable for the study of other national literatures. Through a carefully constructed training-through-research programme the experienced researcher will expand her research interests broadening her chronological range.

On January 31, 2018, the High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (HLEG) of the European Commission published its final report with recommendations. However, despite recent global movements (e.g., UN Sustainable Development Goals), a broader societal change toward a more sustainable economic system has failed to materialize. One reason is that sustainable finance has not yet become an integral part of today’s (financial) narrative. Researchers in communication science have highlighted the pivotal role of the news media in inducing signs, symbols and meanings to spur interest for certain topics for many years (i.e., agenda-setting). Yet, research on the communication of sustainable finance is, up to now, non-existent. This research project will fill the research gap by investigating the role of the news media in raising public awareness and understanding of sustainable finance, and subsequently, European citizens’ motivation to engage and eventually implement sustainable finance in their daily lives. To do so, a Delphi study among financial journalists in Europe will give insights into role perceptions and gatekeeping processes in editorial offices when reporting on sustainable finance. Furthermore, a large-scale semi-automated content analysis of the coverage of sustainable finance in European financial news over the past 10 years will show how the topic has evolved over time (e.g., actors). Moreover, focus group discussions combined with an experimental survey among European citizens will inform the public about news media framing effects on individual’s attitudes and behavioural intentions vis-à-vis sustainable finance. Concluding, the proposed research project will not only educate financial experts, educators and communication experts on how to successfully communicate sustainable finance to the broader public, it also provides policy makers (e.g., HLEG) with highly relevant insights on how to engage European citizens for a greener economic future.