UWE Bristol

Episode 1: An in-depth look into the barriers underserved entrepreneurs face in accessing financial services. Aimed at surfacing unseen challenges and lived experiences, with representation from entrepreneurs and financial institutions.

Topics: Personal financial history, credit access, banking assumptions, gender bias in funding.

Theme: How systemic design leaves people out — and what’s lost because of it.

In Episode 7 part two we continue the conversation with Fernando to consider how inclusive leadership translates and to consider how leaders can navigate this process across different contextual and linguistic contexts.

In Episode 7 part one we talk to Fernando who is a leader in a Spanish University and consider his experiences of working in a multinational University when educating students in different languages and also consider the implications for EDI in this context.

In this latest episode, we are joined by Dr Appolinaire Etoundi, Senior Lecturer and Researcher in Mechatronics at UWE Bristol. From pioneering low-cost prosthetic legs to developing AI-driven assistive devices, Appolinaire is reshaping how technology intersects with healthcare and his vision to create a centre that uses AI, 3D scanning and printing to tailor affordable prosthetics in real time is captivating. The driving force for the vision is entirely user-centred - a career shift motivated by being challenged by a gold medal winning Para Olympian to consider making joints for people rather than robots... His mission is to design technology that empowers and not excludes.

Interesting fact: The temperature in a prosthetic leg socket can reach 47-49 Celsius after 90 minutes of walking! There is so much to be done to improve this and many other aspects of living with prosthetics.

In this special collaboration with Bristol’s 2025 Festival of Nature on the theme of ‘Water’, we heard from an expert panel about rivers as the ancient ‘gut health’ of our planet. They explored the crucial role of rivers in the carbon cycle and our ecosystem, the research work and citizen science that is being carried out to learn more about them, the campaigns to keep our waters clean - and what we can be doing to nurture and enjoy rivers in our cities and beyond.

Our panel was led by Professor Darren Reynolds, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research & Knowledge Exchange, UWE Bristol, and included guests, Emma Brisdion, Communications & Campaigns Manager, The Rivers Trust and UWE Bristol Alum; Dr Eva Perrin, Research Fellow in River Pollution, University of Plymouth and UWE Bristol Alum; Hedvig Lyche, Chief Sustainability Officer, Additive Catchments; and Mehbooba Ferdoush, a cold water swimmer. We also had a special screening of the trailer for the Bristol-made documentary film, ‘Rave On For The Avon’, courtesy of EightySita.

The post-even drinks included a special rivers-themed exhibition by Devon-based photographer and artist, William Templeton, curated watery texts from Bristol independent bookseller, Bookhaus, and stalls from ‘Rave On For The Avon’ and water-testing organisation, MolEndoTech, who demo’d their rapid water quality analysis device with the audience.

Listen more from the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://soundcloud.com/uwebristol/sets/bristol-distinguished-address

Watch the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrOzUDjo8U6JTeJ02D-Bo_EtA47W6vG-T

Learn more about the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: www.uwe.ac.uk/events/bristol-dis…hed-address-series

Useful links:

Festival of Nature 2025: https://www.bnhc.org.uk/festival-of-nature/

Professor Darren Reynolds, UWE Bristol: https://people.uwe.ac.uk/Person/DarrenReynolds

Emma Brisdion, The Rivers Trust: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-brisdion/?originalSubdomain=uk

The Rivers Trust: https://theriverstrust.org/

Dr Eva Perrin, University of Plymouth: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/eva-perrin

Hedvig Lyche, Chief Sustainability Officer, Additive Catchments: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hedvig-lyche-4a433710/

Additive Catchments: https://additivecatchments.com/

Rave On For The Avon: https://www.eightysita.com/raveonfortheavondocumentary

Photographer William Templeton: https://williamjoshuatempleton.com/

Bookhaus: https://www.bookhausbristol.com/

MolEndoTech: https://molendotech.com/

Watershed: https://www.watershed.co.uk/

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Two seemingly unrelated organisations are finding innovative ways to support youth in vulnerable situations, and promote community safety. Watch and listen again to this very pertinent BDAS event, where we heard from a youth boxing therapy charity from Bristol and an office for violence prevention from Edmonton, Canada – both working to reduce violence an ocean away.

Empire Fighting Chance uses a powerful combination of non-contact boxing and intensive personal support to challenge and inspire young people aged 8 to 25 to realise their unique potential.

REACH Edmonton Council for Safe Communities is a non-profit agency that acts as a hub for coordination, action, and focus on community safety and well-being. (Think of them as the ‘glue’ that brings and holds collaborative partnerships together.) They’ve been touted internationally for their work as an office for violence prevention, which is an entity whose central mandate is to prevent different forms of violence.

After meeting at an urban peace conference in Columbia, the two organisations are bringing international lessons to improve support for youth in their respective cities. Now, Bristol is on the brink of creating its own office for violence prevention inspired by REACH. And in Edmonton, local not-for-profits are banding together to build a youth boxing program modeled after Empire Fighting Chance.

The panel was led by Alex Beresford, TV presenter and Empire Fighting Chance Ambassador, and included: Martin Bisp (Co-Founder & CEO, Empire-Fighting Chance); Jan Fox (Executive Director, REACH Edmonton); Dr Craig Johnston (Senior Lecturer in Criminology, UWE Bristol); and Mariella Miller-Davies (Fundraising Assistant and Youth Voice Ambassador, Empire Fighting Chance).

About the organisations

Empire Fighting Chance delivers four psychologically informed non-contact boxing programmes that help young people get back into education, exit gangs, and reduce youth violence. They also share the impact and methodology of their programmes to a network of boxing clubs, mental health services, and community based organisations across the UK and the world. And, they fight alongside their network for political and policy change to reduce social inequality and amplify the impact and success of early intervention sport based programmes.

REACH Edmonton Council for Safe Communities is a highly-trusted organisation in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, that brings together community, service agencies and government to get things done, with the ultimate aim of preventing violence to create safer communities. REACH plays a convening role, leading or supporting more than 30+ community partnerships in areas that have an upstream effect on community safety and well-being such as child, youth and family well-being; and mitigating addiction and mental health problems.

Listen more from the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://soundcloud.com/uwebristol/sets/bristol-distinguished-address

Watch the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrOzUDjo8U6JTeJ02D-Bo_EtA47W6vG-T

Learn more about the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.uwe.ac.uk/events/bristol-distinguished-address-series

Useful links:

Martin Bisp, Empire Fighting Chance: bit.ly/4kn9Glb

Empire Fighting Chance Team: https://empirefightingchance.org/who-we-are/our-people/

Jan Fox: https://reachedmonton.ca/staff-board/jan-fox/

REACH, Edmonton: https://reachedmonton.ca/

Dr Craig Johnston, UWE Bristol: https://people.uwe.ac.uk/Person/CJohnston

Watershed: https://www.watershed.co.uk/

In episode 1 we discuss why it’s important to study EDI across different language contexts and how we began the research process.

In episode 6 we reflect upon the ways in which we are disseminating the research and how we worked with our advisory panel.

In episode 5 we consider whether the idea of inclusive leadership travels and translates across different languages and cultures.

In episode 4 we talk about the differences between working in a UK quartered head office and an Italian host site.