Research under this theme explores how to promote healthy communities within the context of rapid urbanisation and future city development, whilst catering for the planet.
It focuses on the intricate factors influencing community health and wellbeing in urban environments and the role of community engagement in fostering healthy behaviours.
Projects
FCRI 2024 SEED CORN PROJECT
Smart cities: building health equity for citizens through digitital healthcare solutions.
The team:
- Professor Raja Affendi, Sunway University
- Dr Ooi Pei Boon, Sunway University
- Professor Bruce Hollingsworth, Lancaster University
- DR Faraz Ahmed, Lancaster University
The project aims to uncover factors contributing to urban healthcare sustainability in Malaysia, addressing legitimacy issues like ethics, privacy, and a livable cities framework. The focus is cultivating a digitalised, person-centric ecosystem empowering urban communities to manage personalized healthcare decisions. This project will drive progress in personalised healthcare, population-wide strategies, real-time knowledge generation, and “digital health” development within the smart city ecosystem. It will provide foundations for nationwide program extension, enhancing health equity and support for a technologically-savvy Society 5.0, contributing to SDGs 10 and 11 on reducing inequalities and sustainable communities in Malaysia.
FCRI 2022 SEED CORN PROJECT
Investigating the Environmental Factors of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) for Better Urban Health
The team:
- Professor Raja Affendi, Sunway University
- Dr Ooi Pei Boon, Sunway University
- Professor Roger Pickup, Lancaster University
IBD is a complex disease that affects millions of people worldwide, and this study by Sunway University and Lancaster University is a crucial step towards understanding the environmental factors involved in the disease’s development. By focusing on Lancaster, a city with a well-established platform for IBD research, the study aims to uncover the unique factors that contribute to IBD in urban environments, ultimately leading to the development of more targeted disease prevention strategies. Additionally, the study’s comparison of Western and Malaysian disease patterns provides a novel approach to understanding the disease’s environmental influences and its impact on urban health. The project’s findings could have a significant impact on disease prevention and urban health improvement, ultimately improving the lives of millions of people affected by IBD.
FCRI 2022 SEED CORN PROJECT
Waste Reduction To Promote Sustainable Cities
The team:
- Prof Mohamed Kheireddine Aroua, Sunway University
- Prof Yuka Fujimoto, Sunway University
- Assoc Prof Jane Giew, Sunway University
- Prof Kirk Semple, Lancaster University
- Dr Alison Stowell, Lancaster University
The situation of solid waste management in Malaysia is alarming, especially concerning plastic waste. Despite producing a considerable amount of plastic waste per capita, Malaysia is ranked as the 8th worst country for plastic mismanagement. However, a team of multi-disciplinary academics from Sunway University and Lancaster University are working towards finding solutions to this issue by engaging with both industry and the Malaysian society. By identifying the challenges faced in waste management and evaluating the likelihood of citizens accepting solutions, the team hopes to develop practical approaches that can be implemented to
HEICCAM: The Health and Equity Impacts of Climate Change Mitigation Measures on Indoor and Outdoor Air Pollution Exposure
This network brings together experienced and early career researchers from nine universities from disciplines as diverse as air quality measurement and modelling, building physics, behavioural science, health and health inequalities, education and policy. It will build evidence on the consequences for exposure to air pollution of actions aimed at tackling climate change and poor air quality, with particular focus on the home environment. Its aim is to provide underpinning research that can inform and influence policy and practice to safeguard human health.
Dust Bunny: Exploring hygiene practices in different home environments in Ghana to understand the home as a source of infection of AMR bacteria carried by dust
The Dust Bunny project applies design research methods coupled with microbiological analyses to address issues of home-based infections in Ghana, particularly those carrying antimicrobial resistance, resulting in a reduction of infection and in positive increase of health outcomes.
Seafood Age
SEAFOOD-AGE tackles a common social and economic challenge in the Atlantic Area (AA): an ageing population. Healthy ageing requires a healthy diet, and seafood products provide essential nutrients not always accessible to older adults. The project will exploit the maritime dimension of the AA regions and will adopt circular economy concepts to generate ready-to-eat seafood for healthy ageing, produce novel eco-packaging and develop a smart label for better quality, safety and minimum food waste.
AIRPRO: An Integrated Study of Air Pollution Processes in Beijing
The AIRPRO project aims to improve public understanding of the science and impacts of urban air pollution, support Chinese collaborators in their roles as influencers of policy and practice in Beijing and China, and translate AIRPRO science to megacities in a development context.
PROMOTE: Process Analysis, Observations and Modelling – Integrated Solutions for Cleaner Air for Delhi
Over four years, PROMOTE aims to reduce uncertainties in air quality prediction and forecasting for Delhi by undertaking process orientated observational and modelling analyses, and to derive the most effective mitigation solutions for reducing air pollution over the urban and surrounding region. PROMOTE brings together a cross-disciplinary team of leading researchers from India and the UK to deliver the project aims.
Amazonian Cities and Extreme Hydro-Climatic Events: Research to Reduce Vulnerability and Build Resilience
This research partnership will build and strengthen scientific collaboration between UK and Brazilian researchers. The team will work together to develop new, innovative research in order to reduce the vulnerability of Amazonian cities to extreme climatic events, such as floods and droughts.
RESPOND-OR: Resilient Emergency Preparedness for Natural Disaster Response Through Operational Research
The overarching strategic objective of the RESPOND-OR project is the development and implementation of novel mathematical models to capture the complexity, dynamic, and uncertainty characteristics of disaster preparedness and response decisions, along with efficient hyper heuristic algorithms to enable the efficient, effective, and equitable allocation of disaster preparedness and response resources.
Future Cities Research Institute 