University of the West of Scotland

If it does turn out well, you're a hero, but you may even still have to keep quiet about it because people won't like it that you broke the rules.

That's today's guest on Foresight Matters, Edward Borodich, Professor of Risk and Crisis Management at the University of the West of Scotland.

Now, on this episode, we're looking at the tough reality of decision-making in an emergency and what to consider when the problem doesn't fit the planned response you've trained for.

Is it ever okay to break the rules? Also on today's episode, we discuss the difference between an emergency and a crisis, and why the rules of response might not be the same.

[upbeat music] Hi there.

Welcome to A Wee Blether About, podcast from the Academic Skills team at UWS.

My name's Linda Riches, and I'm one of the academic skills advisors at the university.

So today we're delighted to have a special guest on the podcast, Dr. Ruth Currie.

Hi, Ruth.

Hello.

Um, hiya, um, is a lecturer in researcher development at UWS and runs a great series of online sessions called Search Cite Write, which aims to help anyone at UWS embarking on post-graduate research, particularly with a focus on PhDs.

So I'm also joined by Carly.

And I spent the first month or two, I should say the PhD was with Celtic as well.

It was in partnership with Celtic and University of the West of Scotland.

Through conversations with the staff at Celtic, head of academy, the coaches, and then also my supervisory team at the university, we landed on transition.

And they were keen to have a PhD student focusing around about that talent development area.

New graduate employment data shows that none of the Russell Group universities made the UK's top 10 for employment rates 15 months after graduation.

Instead, universities like Robert Gordon, Glasgow Caledonian and the University of the West of Scotland came out top.

It's a good reminder that choosing a university isn't just about prestige.

When you're researching courses, look at things like graduate employment rates, placement opportunities, employer partnerships and industry links, not just league tables.

Yeah, well, I've got a small story about Ian Murray when he was at St Mirren.

the university that I went to, the University of the West of Scotland has a partnership with St Mirren and that meant from time to time you would go into Paisley and where they've got a campus too and you'd kind of have players in and do some media training with them kind of thing so it was beneficial for them, beneficial for us but Ian Murray was the manager at the time and he said when he was St Mirren manager and he said he'd spell that He thinks he knows more about football than those in the stands.

And he thought after that, fuck, I need to know this back.

So we got a call.

After your degree, did you immediately enter industry in the UK? Or did you, because you eventually came over here to the US too and worked?

So my first experience after university was I went to the University of Paisley for a year as a research associate, which was a great opportunity to finish writing my thesis in a relatively low pressure environment.

And it was essentially the University of Aberystwyth had connections with a company called Eclipse.

So Ipsys were all the big deal just prior to my start in my PhD.

They were involved in the Eclipse project, which was a big European funded project.

And that spun off as a company called Eclipse.

University of Paisley acquired licenses to use Eclipse and then they wanted someone who knew how to use it.

And so like through this sort of like little network, I got the inside track on a job at University of Paisley.

They wanted to go back and do further education.

So I went to the esteemed educational facility of the University of Paisley, which no longer exists.

So it didn't last that long.

So I got my degree there.

And I hear her story a lot, because we go to different things and, you know, we were at a thing the other day, it was, uh, Glasgow Caledonian University, 150 years, and she's an honorary doc- She's Dr.

Rose Reilly there, as well as University of West Scotland.

And they were doing, like, TED-style talks, so it was, like, four really interesting people, including Rose, and she was on at the end.

And I remember, uh, she's like, "What's TED?" [laughs]

Welcome to Talk Media, the show that takes you behind the scenes, analysing how the media works and who works the media.

I'm Stuart Cosgrove and today I'm pleased to be joined by Professor Graeme Jeffery, who works in Arts and Media Practice at the University of the West of Scotland.

Graeme, welcome to Talk Media.

Let's start off with getting to know you a bit better.