 So next we have Dr. Alison Halford, talking about unlocking the potential of sensors for the benefits of the environment, people, places and ethnic. Thank you. Thank you. So before I start, I want to manage our expectations about this presentation, because I notice you're really solution driven. And this project was not, it was very much about resolutions, because we didn't want to end up with a meter size. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, I'm going to draw up on my own biography. My sister is very similar size to me. She just turned 15 September last year, and she said to her husband, I really hate being this way. I want to lose weight and I'm going to eat more fiber. And her husband's an engineer and he said, don't worry, Jan, by Christmas, I'll have the solution. And during those three months, he kept saying, don't worry, I know exactly this is really what you need. And then she comes down to the sitting room, and for Christmas he'd given her an exercise by that he converted to grind wheat. And he's trying to solve a problem he created a whole set of problems, because she didn't speak to him till the new year. But that is what often we find that when we are focused on a solution, we miss the dialogue the context, the alternative narratives around that that discussion. So I'm going to do it. This writing retreat. Okay, I'm. Yeah, am I going to click. Yay. Okay. Oh, okay. Yes, this is it. We were ambitious. Now, most fighting retreats as you know quite passive. And they're also quite singular. It's about improving your writing. We went beyond that we definitely were ambitious in our vision. We wanted to see what happens when we bring together people working in this space and see what what they could produce in terms of a collective consciousness around the digital environment. Now, this is not without a prototype we know that I was involved in tomorrow's engineering research challenges so I had some insight to how it was delivered, but we just went that bit further. So, and our ambition now has expanded to beyond a briefing paper we intend therefore to also produce a journal paper from our findings. What's going to so who were the people who did we involve. Oops, I'm really good at this. Okay. Now I'm drawing attention to that not to single them out not in a way this is not a wall of shame. But I'm just drawing attention to the fact that we were very selective about who we invited out to the 67 we invited 24 agreed to come and 21 actually were able to attend the writing retreat. Now there's two things I want you to draw attention to firstly, that there's an appetite for it to have over a third of respondents come. There is definitely an appetite for this kind of activity. Secondly, because we were we, before we extend an invitation we actually read through papers that have been published by them. We looked at that biographies, we were very considered about who could attend that there was a huge challenge. If it were not for the CDE expert network, it would have been looking like in cupboards under the stairs. This whole people working in the digital environment are hidden away to comments in very strange combinations. One would think you would go to digital related faculty, but you'll find there in geography or sustainable development. I cannot emphasize how critical it is if we want more and more collaboration to have a central point where we can find those experts. So how did we do it. Okay, now we had varied activities and we're all it was all about disrupting the law. It was about taking these people into uncomfortable spaces, and a lot of it was about critical reflexivity. And that's different from reflection reflection is where you do it as an individual critical reflexivity is a feminist method where we take the discipline and hold the discipline to account. So we really interrogate long standing tropes and push back upon established thinking. After all those activities, what would we, and I'm always worried about the term success what do we mean by success, but the activities what were the ones where they engaged most that they found the most fertile that they were able to feel the most connected was none of these. The feedback that I got was that the activities that were the best was when they had meals together. It was those discussions. And I've reflected upon this when I was looking at the feedback forms. And I've come to the conclusion that in the act of breaking break together. What we do is we move connections from transactions to more communal expressions that we remove those hierarchies those labels, and we around dinner table, have an opportunity to to present ourselves beyond our work. So what insights did we gain from this writing retreat. At the moment I'm still processing we only finished last week so I'm still processing the data. And there's an awful lot. So I'm going to have a caveat I'm not talking about things. We are doing thematically analysis. I should also just reference the theoretical framework for the briefing paper is around data feminism. So that we can really push back around racism data. And they're all isms and patriarchy. So that is so there is that transparency and in of itself I don't have time to discuss that but that was a journey itself, getting people working in this space to think about theoretical frameworks. So the first insight can offer this idea of trusted authority. If you look at the image, what you'll see is a barometer. And one of the reasons is a part of our photo elicitation exercise was someone said, this represented to her unlocking the benefits of sensors for the environment, because it was trusted that it didn't matter how much there was new technology. And the notion that we become a trusted authority, I think really is relevant as we've seen more and more distrust occurs. So that says that as science replaced religion, science comes in the same trap as religion that it offers certainty when in of itself, it should embrace the uncertainty. In the bold you will see something that we I saw within all five groups. Now we did have five, what we did we divided people into five creative teams, so that they had an opportunity to work in smaller groups. So the value that they really all commented upon. What happens invariably is we're very reductionist about sustainable development goals and we're quite, you know, we just say we reference them in a very kind of generic way. And what becomes really apparent if you want to inform policy, you have to be explicit about how that work fits into that goal, not the tagline goal, but the categories, there are categories within the categories. There's a second insight and this particular image again one of the participants used it to show how the barriers we can limit, you know, stop us from reaching the beauty of the work we do. Now, to put simply the point where it will converge this idea of democratizing knowledge, I think I can put in really simple terms, you are gatekeepers. And the ability and the capability to allow others to understand your work. But once you are dazzled by the technology. Once you start talking in terms of alienate those around you who are outside of your sector. You will not get your story across. And not only that you reinforce exclusive the exclusivity the knowledge hierarchies, the very antithesis of what you want to do. One of the privilege I have of having insights into your business I see the tremendous amount of good you're doing, but at times I do not understand why you are doing it and sometimes I don't know why I should care about what you're doing. This is a really critical point, we need to be able to tell our stories. So everyone can buy into our journey. The last and final point was about transformation and this is probably the point. So I'm just checking notes flying. And it's about transformative community practice. And the thing that became very apparent was there was a need for to work. I quite liked what they were talking about they wanted this idea of coming together as an imagined community and this comes from Benedict Anderson's idea that we don't have to have an actual virtual community we can have a virtual community an imagined community. Now I think this one is not without controversy. I think reading through people's comments, what they envision is a very egalitarian very inclusive diverse space addressing some of the issues we know we have within your community about retention about attracting those traditionally excluded or marginalized within this discipline, but I'm going to add a caveat here in asking for a central point, invariably someone is going to have to lead it. So even if you get the funding, if you get funding to one institution, we then start elevating one institution upon the other. And I came into academia late and I didn't realize the scale. I'm a Coventry University. And I have had experiences that make me realize that there is still, I thought we had moved on from this. There is still a lot of privilege associated to where you are located. And I think this idea of the place. And I think we need to think very carefully when we talk about centers is are we just reproducing privilege, and we can only a few can only access, or, and we're still in actual perpetrating the very thing that we claim we wish to, to avoid. So in conclusion. So what we thought again was to bring to the floor people places and ethics. So what did we do that. I think, yes, we started conversations and conversations change conditions. But there was three unexpected outcomes from this. And this was driven by the groups myself and I think this is what I said start we didn't know where we're going to land. I think this is what has made the journey exciting. I think one of the things was that they wanted to see a survey and they really wanted to understand the needs and aspirations. There is a concern that we are not retaining talent that we are having to rethink, particularly the neoliberalization of universities is that we need to think very carefully. There are people that are the brightest and the best and feel valued and have value that we respect and honor and dignify this profession. The second thing is about ideas about theoretical frameworks. That was something that for some groups they haven't accounted before. And the understanding was that you don't necessarily need a theoretical framework for the work you're doing, but you do need to ask yourself. How do you design sensors? You may think why would that, how does that reinforce inequality? And that's the whole question that should be your starting point. It is not about the technology. It is about what the technology does in the everyday lives of people. And lastly, this conceptualization of digital environment playgrounds. There was an appetite to have more fun. This is a serious endeavor and the opportunity to come together as a collective, to in a supportive, safe environment, to explore new ideas, to have opportunities to incubate, to think, to reflect, was seen something that can really help maintain not just the well-being of the individuals concerned, but actually amplify and advocate for digital environment. And those working with digital environment having a bigger platform. I think, in conclusion, I'd just like to say, the only, I believe the future in this profession is to ensure that you are informing and influencing beyond the academia. And that means you have to start to find a different set of skills. The papers are not sufficient. They are not going to give you the impact you need. And so I would challenge you to start thinking about how can we disseminate in different ways, so that we can encourage people to think differently, to attract people who are different career directories, so that we can continue to sustain and maintain a healthy, vibrant and connected ecosystem. Thank you. I didn't participate in any questions. Well, thank you very much. I thought that reflection on how difficult it would be to find people within the organizations. If this network exists, really is a challenge to us all to make sure that it's visible and that there are probably people who are still hidden. Yeah, we need as part of this community. And I was interested, what you were talking about that, that taking meals together and that being a really important time. Do you think that means that there's a need to bring some of that into the activities or do you think the fact that it's just a different thing to the activities is actually part of the white words. And I think, yeah, I think that that's a really good point. I think there's something very familiar about sitting around a table, so that if you are, and also something quite secure, that's me telling you. So yeah, I think there is that familiarity, but also I think it breaks the space becomes an egalitarian space a meal table a table when you sit around isn't in a classroom isn't in a presentation space. It is in a very neutral space so I think space matters where we discuss it. I think the other thing is there is an expectation that you will talk. You know, a meal tilt there is a certain amount of expectation that they will become a communal convivial or event, but I don't think that's the only only space you're right. I think sometimes it's giving them something they can do, and also allow them to step out sometimes because sometimes you don't want to talk so it's about doing that space so yeah, so yeah I'm not advocating that you just turn a conference and just you know, unless you go to Spain, it's more traditional. Yeah, the culture. And Steve's asking what form might a digital environment play ground. Right. Yeah, no, so this is their exploring that what they envisioned was it would all again be that inclusion that universities would open up their labs or space and hosted Sunday, and it then that was going to just be selecting right here rather than an open call and allow people interested. It did people who don't normally work in that space to come together. And so I sort of the vision that this particular group have other groups have similar visions was about ensuring that they had didn't come with an aim to produce anything, but to explore ideas that they haven't got the time to or the intellectual space to do. So I think that would be, and it's, again, also allowed those that have less access universities that perhaps so I look at that we can't go to a building like this and not be taken in by, you know, the sheer scale and, you know, access to resources they have. And I think it behoves us as a community to open up to school. So that's, that's a political speaker, don't I? That's how I feel. Right, I think that's it. Thank you very much. Any other questions?