Open Research Exeter - University of Exeter
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Coins and colonialism between South Asia and Britain: tracing numismatic networks of collecting from field to museum
No full textThis thesis presents a history of coin collecting in colonial India by British and Indian collectors and scholars in the late nineteenth to the early to mid-twentieth centuries. Taking an object biography approach, I recount the journey of coins from the ground up to their acquisition to UK museums, as they pass through the hands of agricultural workers, labourers, scavenging communities, collectors, dealers, scholars and museum professionals.
During their postings in South Asia, British colonial officials developed an interest in the so-called missing history of the subcontinent and formed coin collections to write this history, which they deposited in UK museums after their return. Although these collections are named after British collectors, the role of Indian actors in their formation has so far been neglected. This thesis highlights the crucial role of Indians from diverse social backgrounds in forming these collections and advancing numismatic studies. It reveals how British collectors relied on Indian actors for both coin supplies and accompanying information, despite viewing them through racialised lenses. By focusing on Indians from middling and lower caste and class backgrounds, I offer a bottom-up history of collecting that differs from traditional histories of collecting that often focus on elite collectors.
Although there is a growing trend of investigating histories of colonial collecting and of collections housed within UK heritage institutions, numismatic collections have received little attention in this scholarship so far. Giving into prejudiced notions about a perceived lack of written sources to study Indian history, European scholars turned to material sources like coins to fill gaps in India’s history. I examine how these networks of European collector-scholars used coins to produce knowledge on Indian history and numismatics that narrativized the story of the Indo-Greeks and Alexander the Great as a celebratory story. On the other hand, amid growing nationalist fervour in India, Indian historians used these coins to offer disruptive interpretations of Indian history that instead portrayed the Gupta and Mauryan empires as the golden age of India.
I argue that the structures of Empire, legal, administrative and museological were key to the coin collecting endeavours of British officials. The networks formed through these structures facilitated the production of knowledge on Indian history and numismatics and were responsible for the transfer of large collections of South Asian coins to UK museums. As heritage legislation was introduced to control the official movement of Indian antiquities from India to abroad, these private collectors became the means through which UK museums expanded their South Asian coin collections bypassing legislation intended to protect the loss of heritage in colonised countries. By revealing the multi-racial and intercontinental social and professional networks involved in the assemblage, transfer, and acquisition of these collections, I bring to life a part of the complex, hierarchical and ethically sensitive history of museum collections in the UK. I reveal the stories of the countless hands that are behind the coins we see in glass cabinets today, helping provide a fuller and more complex story of the movement of objects from colonial South Asia to UK museums. Lastly, I show how practices inside the museum such as cataloguing, digitising, displaying and storing coins further diminish the contribution of these South Asian actors in assembling coin collections, so we only remember the European male collector responsible for transferring the collections.</p
Durability and environmental performance of calcium carbide residue-based materials in improving soft clay
No full textDespite increasing interest in calcium carbide residue (CCR)-based materials for soil stabilisation, the durability, leachability, and environmental impacts of stabilised soils remain insufficiently evaluated for applications. This study conducted wetting-drying cycle tests, tank leaching tests, and life cycle assessment (LCA) on soils stabilised with CCR alone, CCR combined with fly ash (CCR-FA), and alkaline activated CCR-FA. Soils stabilised with CCR lost integrity after two cycles, whereas CCR-FA and activated CCR-FA gained strength over seven cycles. All CCR-based stabilised soils released low concentrations of heavy metals within regulatory limits. CCR-FA effectively reduced the mobility of Cu, Cr, and As, while activated CCR-FA performed better for Pb. LCA results showed lower environmental impacts for CCR-based materials than conventional binders, with CCR-FA being the most sustainable. However, the environmental advantages of CCR and CCR–FA were strongly influenced by waste availability and energy sources. Overall, CCR-based materials demonstrate potential for eco-friendly soil stabilisation.</p
Understanding Knowledge Workers’ Perspectives on Knowledge Exchange Activities in the Context of Saudi Higher Education Institutions
No full textThere is limited evidence on how Saudi academics engage in KE activities and how they understand and describe these engagements. This study seeks to address a gap in extant understanding by exploring the nature of KE within Saudi public universities, generating an in-depth understanding of KE processes and their associated activities within academic roles. This research explores the main factors influencing academic engagement in these activities and their perspectives on the role of university leaders and managers in KE activities. The study was conducted within an interpretive paradigm, using a multiple-case study design to collect data on KE practice in three Saudi public universities.
Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 19 Saudi academics as the primary research method. Documents related to KE projects and programmes on university websites, as well as initiatives from the Saudi Ministry of Education (MoE), were used for document analysis to extend the study’s data. The 19 Saudi academics were from five academic fields and disciplines across three public universities in Saudi Arabia. The study employs a reflexive thematic analysis approach, guided by a conceptual framework that integrates three theories as an analytical tool for data analysis. These theories include organisational knowledge creation theory, informed by both Nonaka's and the SECI model, social exchange theory, and intellectual capital theory. The findings indicate that, while the concept of KE and its practice remain unclear within the context of public universities, Saudi academics are interested in engaging with and participating in KE and its associated activities.
The findings suggest that describing KE as a social and dynamic process involves several knowledge management processes, including the creation and sharing of knowledge at two levels: the interactional level, which relates to individual exchanges of academic knowledge (through face-to-face interactions with students, colleagues, and volunteering in the community), and the organisational level, which involves conducting research as a central part of their academic responsibilities (which align with universities’ efforts to foster collaborative relationships both within and outside universities). Also, the findings reveal that this view contrasts with their description of knowledge transfer as a planned process or as collaboration with industry. This presents a relatively narrow view of KE aimed at aligning with the endeavours in a knowledge-based economy, as the literature suggests.
Additionally, findings indicate that academics recognise various individual, organisational, and social factors that promote their academic engagement. These include supporting internal motivation, building trust and KE norms, establishing reward systems and collaborative relationships, and the utilisation of IT tools. The findings also show that academics perceived university leaders and managers as important facilitating influences on their academic engagement in KE activities. The findings are intended to assist Saudi public universities in developing and supporting academics’ knowledge exchange activities.</p
The Parish Landscape in Cornwall, 1600-1800: Space, Sense, and Everyday Life
No full textCornwall is commonly grouped with the South West or paired with Devon in
historical scholarship. This study employs a holistic approach to the exploration of
everyday parish life in Cornwall, from c.1600 to c.1800. This approach culminates in
a comprehensive understanding of the lived experience within parishes, particularly
how parishioners moved within the landscape and experienced space. Utilising the
Cornish glebe terriers, alongside maps, plans, court cases, and other archival
sources, there will be a focus on the spatial and sensory landscapes. The sources
are drawn from multiple parishes. The evidence from this period for Cornwall is
fragmentary and scattered across various parishes. Therefore, this discussion will
build upon those featured in the Cornish glebe terriers. The main spaces of
discussion include the parsonage house, the church, gardens and glebe lands. Each
of these spaces is connected to the other, allowing for an integrated understanding
of Cornish parishes. Parishioners' lives were impacted by the landscape they lived
in, as well as their neighbours. This dissertation seeks to explore the relationships
between parishioners and the landscape. Parish landscapes are not ‘backdrops’ to
historical movement but play an active role within it.</p
Introduction: uncertainty, vulnerabilities, and inequalities in cities
No full textThe need of country-states and their public administrations or institutions to find ways and solutions that can ensure general sustainability, and more recently, social-ecological resilience, has been increasing over the last decades. Both public and private activities have been developing in a more ecological way, or at least trying not to compromise the environment and ecosystems as much as possible. The global trend has been, therefore, to implement the best measures for the efficient use of the natural resources that are available on the surface of the Earth. It is a challenge for human communities and their institutions to organise access to common resources and find solutions to live within the limits or boundaries of our planet. Simultaneously, the protection of the rights (both individual and collective) and the well-being of the communities that live in different territories is a priority of our time. Because ecology is, in fact, a synthesising science of both humankind and nature. This synthesis leads our attention to the reality of cities, whose importance has been increasing, namely in the last decades. As growing places, cities pose many of the most significant governance problems to the world in the 21st century.</p
Applied research in Parkinson’s disease and related conditions: mapping the funding and evidence landscape. Supplementary appendix to Report
No full textThis is the supplementary appendix to the report "Applied research in Parkinson’s disease and related conditions: mapping the funding and evidence landscape." </p
We are the interruption: Technology, militancy and endless genocide
No full textIn the era of AI-automated annihilation, the authors bring us through the many questions on what and how a truly decolonial act looks like – what sabotaging the tools of colonial genocide and occupation, and embracing limitations as anti-colonial praxis, could look like.</p
Emerging challenges in underwater video processing for unknown marine species detection
No full textThis study aims to improve underwater object detection and automated recognition by integrating advanced image enhancement, robust detection, and recognition with a focus on the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 14 (UN SDG 14) i.e. life below water. The goal is to address visibility degradation and misclassification challenges which affect underwater computer vision systems, using a statistically grounded evaluation framework. We used the Enhancing Underwater Visual Perception (EUVP) dataset and the YOLOv8 detection model. Three enhancement methods are used including histogram equalization (HE), contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE), and generative adversarial network (GAN)based image enhancement. Quantitative results show that GAN enhancement improves the mean average precision ([email protected]) by 9.3 %, increasing the structural similarity index (SSIM) by 18.6 %, and stabilizing the confidence variance by 33 %. A misclassification and unknown class analysis identified four performance levels in the dataset. Firstly, strong performers in fish, stingray, jellyfish, and coral. Secondly, moderate performers in sea anemone, sea urchin, shark, and starfish. Thirdly, poor performers in dolphin, eel, sea lions, penguins, and whales. Fourthly, near-zero performers in pufferfish, lobster, and other rare classes. Introducing an unknown class enabled open set recognition, reducing false positives by 57 % and improving confidence calibration. This approach can strengthen autonomous marine robotics and ecological diversity monitoring by improving both detection accuracy and model interpretability in highly complex underwater conditions.</p
Evaluating Future Runoff, Water Stress and Fluvial Flooding in China under Climate Change
No full textChina faces complex changes in runoff variability, water stress, and fluvial flood hazards under climate change and socioeconomic development. Understanding how these processes may evolve under future scenarios is critical for long-term water resource planning and climate adaptation. However, existing studies often suffer from fragmented assessments. For example, runoff projections are typically limited to catchment-scale models or coarse-resolution global datasets, making it difficult to capture China’s diverse hydrological patterns at a national scale in high resolution. Water stress assessments frequently apply simplified assumptions or inconsistently combine climate and socioeconomic scenarios, leading to internally inconsistent projections. Moreover, flood risk studies in China rarely include nationwide evaluations of inundation exposure, and no studies to date have examined such risks under climate overshoot scenarios, despite their increasing plausibility under current emission trajectories.
This study presents an integrated assessment of future runoff, water stress and fluvial flooding across China under a range of climate and socioeconomic scenarios. To achieve this, an integrated and novel multi-model framework was developed, combining a land surface model (JULES), machine learning algorithms, and a hydrodynamic flood model (CaMa-Flood). The analysis considers three climate-socioeconomic pathways: SSP245 (moderate emissions), SSP585 (high emissions), and SSP534-OS (an overshoot scenario involving temporarily exceeding 2 °C warming before returning below it through mitigation).
This modelling framework provides a novel, multi-dimensional assessment of runoff, water stress and fluvial flooding in China by combining high-resolution, nationally consistent hydrological simulations of runoff, scenario-consistent water availability and demand projections, and spatially explicit flood inundation analyses. It represents the first application of the JULES model for hydrological simulation in China, integrates physically based and machine learning approaches within a scenario-consistent framework, and presents the first assessment of overshoot scenario impacts on fluvial flooding and inundation.
The runoff projections reveal contrasting seasonal trends between northern and southern China under SSP245 and SSP585 scenarios. Southern regions of China are projected to experience wetter summers and drier winters, while northern regions show the opposite pattern. Notably, under the overshoot scenario SSP534-OS, summer runoff in the Yangtze Basin is expected to exceed that under SSP585 in the mid-century, though this trend reverses by the end of century.
For the investigated scenarios, extreme high and low runoff events are projected to increase substantially. Over 56% of China, particularly in the south, is expected to face intensified extreme high runoff, while more than 40% may experience more frequent low runoff, especially in central and southern regions. Under SSP585, these trends become more severe over time, with basin-mean high runoff exceeding 140% of historical levels by the end of the century.
Water stress projections suggest moderate national-level stress throughout the century. However, severe regional disparities emerge. The northwest and central provinces are expected to face worsening stress due to declining water availability and increasing demand, particularly under SSP585. In contrast, northeastern provinces such as Heilongjiang and Hebei may see improved conditions, benefiting from increased water supply and reduced demand. The main drivers of these shifts are regional changes in water availability and sectoral water use, with urban growth, industrial expansion, and agricultural demand playing key roles.
Fluvial flood risk analysis under SSP534-OS and SSP585 indicates that the overshoot pathway may reduce flood risk in the long term but poses heightened mid-century risks. National flood magnitude increases more sharply under SSP585, reaching a 90% rise by end of the century. However, in 2041-2070, flood hazards under SSP534-OS exceed those under SSP585 across 49% of China, particularly in the Yangtze Basin, indicating the early intensification of overshoot-related risks.
Flood exposure assessments show that key basins - including the Yangtze, Yellow, Huaihe, and Haihe River basins - are vulnerable to both cropland and population inundation. Under SSP534-OS, exposure is expected to peak earlier, but SSP585 is projected to lead to dramatically higher impacts by 2100. Population exposure under SSP585 is projected to nearly triple that of SSP534-OS, while cropland inundation ratios exceed 25% in some regions. These findings emphasise the dual need for early adaptation and long-term mitigation to manage flood risks.
Overall, this study provides new insights into the spatial and temporal dynamics of hydrological change across China, highlighting critical regional vulnerabilities and offering a scientific basis to support future strategies for water resource management, climate adaptation, and risk mitigation.</p
Analysing and quantifying key sources of uncertainty in intermittent water supply simulation: Supply characteristics, household tank size and time series of water consumption from the household tanks
No full textMany researchers have used deterministic models to address issues in intermittent water supply (IWS) systems, such as inequitable distribution, but these models often overlook key uncertainties. IWS systems vary widely in practices and operations, introducing uncertainties in areas like water consumption pattern, supply characteristics, and household tank sizes. To address these challenges, this study proposes a novel framework for assessing uncertainty in model input parameters and applies it to an IWS network using an EPA-SWMM-based hydraulic simulation. In the first phase, uncertainty analysis (UA) uses probabilistic methods and Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate the impact of uncertainties on performance indicators. The second phase applies global sensitivity analysis (SA) (Sobol’s method) to identify the most influential parameters. The findings reveal that system performance is primarily governed by supply characteristics, while household tank size exerts a secondary but nonlinear influence on both pressure and consumption based indicators. Excessive household tank size is shown to reduce the pressure and supply equity, whereas moderate tank size improves the fairness of the water distribution. This work provides a foundation for more accurate and reliable IWS modelling approaches.</p