This project will use the compositions and crystal cargoes of erupted magmas to study pre-eruptive behaviour of magmatic systems. The aim is to understand their relationship to, and control on, periodicity and style of volcanic eruptions to mitigate hazards and risks. To do this we will undertake detailed description of the whole-rock composition and mineral chemistry of volcanic rocks from active intra-plate and subduction-related volcanoes. New knowledge about zircon behaviour will then be considered in the context of these well-constrained systems. Experimental and numerical modelling predict pre-existing zircons that survive being dissolved in magmas suffer thermal shock that affects their structure, patchy zoning, and U-Th-Pb isotopic system i.e., ages (1). We shall analyse the texture and composition of inherited, assimilated and magmatic zircons. Study of these natural volcanic zircons will place constraints on experimental and modelling thermal shock results and permit identification of crystals suitable for analysis to obtain reliable age information. Recent detailed field mapping of volcanic deposits on intra-plate Ascension Island, for example, has revealed >75 explosive and >40 effusive sub-aerial eruptions in the last million years. Only a few of these show clear evidence for magma mixing prior to eruption. We will use zircon and whole-rock geochemical data to understand the nature of these and other pre-eruptive processes. Our main objective is to obtain information about magma storage conditions and plumbing systems in relation to effusive and explosive volcanic activity (cf., 2, 3). Such information may be used to consider future behaviour and so possible short-term, within event, and longer term, between events, potential risks. References 1. Bea F., Montero P. 2013. doi: 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2013.04.014 2. Preece K., Barclay J., Gertisser R., Herd R. 2013. doi: 10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2013.02.006 3. Chamberlain et al. 2016. doi: 10.1007/s00445-016-1

In Nepal and the Philippines, communities have had little voice in public health initiatives. Health providers often take a top-down approach, 'preaching' to families about how they should live more healthy lives and ignoring their everyday realities. Effective health promotion is however dependent on approaches that recognise local health knowledge and beliefs, and build on existing community assets, including staff and infrastructure. With their key role in educating future health workers, universities can contribute directly to transforming attitudes towards marginalised communities. Bringing together two institutes of medicine - at Tribhuvan University in Nepal and University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines - the project aims to contribute understanding of the range, scope and perceptions of community-based learning in public health courses. Extending our team's established community-based learning approach to public health and our research on indigenous/intergenerational learning, we will pilot a new kind of partnership between universities and local communities. Currently, community-based learning in medical institutes can be unidirectional, with the main intention of introducing students to health issues faced by communities so that they can offer advice based on their medical knowledge. Such initiatives have also often been framed in terms of a 'service' objective, rather than setting out to engage in mutual learning about different perspectives on health and wellbeing. This project aims to develop a learning partnership between university medical institutions and local communities which is framed around a relationship of respect for their differing health beliefs and practices. Our overarching research question is: How best can universities engage communities in a mutually respectful and equal partnership to advance public health education? The research will begin with interviews, focus group discussions and documentary analysis to explore current approaches to community-based learning in each medical school. A co-produced study into food and nutrition will then be conducted with one community in each country. Through informal conversations about food beliefs and practices, we will work with community groups to develop their ideas for a public health intervention in this area. Community members, public health students and university researchers will come together to develop methods for co-investigating local and indigenous health knowledge. Methodological expertise in participatory research will be provided by the UEA UNESCO Chair in Adult Literacy and Learning for Social Transformation, a partnership established between our three universities over six years ago. With strikingly different approaches to community-based learning in public health, the collaborating medical institutions offer a valuable comparative dimension. The project includes opportunities to gain first-hand insights into each other's university public health courses through exchange visits and workshops. Through comparative analysis of the intervention process, the project will explore the relevance for other country contexts too. Project outputs include guidelines for universities, public health workers and students on how to build on local health knowledge, as well as how medical schools could apply this model in practice. The major benefit will be to communities in Nepal and the Philippines, who until now have had little agency in public health initiatives. By situating and building the intervention within the framework of existing public health and medical university courses, the project seeks to ensure longer term sustainability, affordability and feasibility.

People (for example: NICE, NHS managers, doctors and patients) may have to select the most cost-effective treatment from several different treatments for an illness. The most believable evidence for the treatment selection is from the direct comparison of different treatments within randomised controlled trials. However, many treatments have not been directly compared in trials. Even without evidence from direct comparison trials, people still have to decide which the best treatment is. Statistical methods have been developed to allow different treatments to be compared indirectly by using data from separate trials. There are several simple or complex methods to make indirect comparisons of different treatment for an illness. All these methods are based on certain assumptions, and sometimes results by using these statistical methods may be incorrect. Misleading or wrong results of indirect comparisons may lead to the wrong selection of treatments with important health and cost consequences. The proposed research is a computer experimental study to comprehensively evaluate the statistical methods for indirect comparison. One difficulty in evaluating statistical methods using data from real clinical trials is that we usually don?t know what ?true? value is to be estimated. This difficulty can be easily overcome in a computer simulation study. A computer simulation study is like a laboratory study in which experimental conditions can be controlled by investigators. We will use the computer to generate simulated clinical trials under various assumed situations (that is, we assume we know what the ?true? treatment effect is). Available statistical methods for indirect comparison will be used to analyse simulated trials. The estimated treatment effects by different statistical methods will be compared with known ?true? treatment effects. Then we will be able to check the usefulness and limitations of different methods under various circumstances. Findings from the propose simulation study will help provide recommendations on appropriate use of indirect comparison methods, and prevent wrong decisions in the selection of treatments.