Business Discoveries - April 2024

University of Bristol Business School academics are influencing policy and practice by critically addressing significant challenges faced by individuals, communities, organisations, and economies. Subscribe to our Business Discoveries newsletter to find out more about our challenge-led interdisciplinary research.

AI text generators - a help or hindrance to critical thinking skills?

The development of AI is a key topic in the education sector currently, but, with the use of AI text generators such as ChatGPT becoming ubiquitous, how is student skill development being influenced?

Research by Dr Aniekan Essien examined exactly this question, looking at the impact of AI text generators on critical thinking skills in UK postgraduate business school students and revealing a subsequent balancing act between benefits and challenges when integrating AI into education.

Find out more about this research and its findings

Gender inequalities in sports

Dr Fiona Spotswood and Professor Martin Hurcombe lead a research project called Fostering Inclusive Action Sports (FIAS), focused on understanding and addressing gender inequality in Action Sports like mountain biking.

They also recently co-hosted the insightful 'Game On' event exploring historical exclusion within the realm of women’s sports and opportunities for future change, covering topics from the visual culture of sport to the power of marketing and media.

Supported by an array of speakers and guests and featuring a screening of acclaimed documentary, 'Game On: The Unstoppable Rise of Women’s Sport’, the event brought together diverse voices to ignite vital discussions, imagining the future of women's sports.

Discover more about this research and the 'Game On' event

Gambling and the Premier League

How many gambling messages did you see during the Premier League weekend?

Research by Dr Raffaello Rossi and Dr Jamie Wheaton, in collaboration with Channel 5, examined advertising on TV, social media and radio, and found that a staggering number gambling messages had been shown across these mediums during the Premier League weekend.

With these messages sneakily often proving hard to even identify as adverts, current gambling marketing regulations are proving insufficient.

The researchers therefore hope their findings will both encourage the government to review regulations and help to inform future improved policy.

Explore the research by Dr Raffaello Rossi and colleagues

Future Finance

We are delighted to be a partner of Future Finance, a financial services accelerator launching to businesses on 17th April.

Through a package of bespoke and tailored support, Future Finance enables small or mid-sized financial service organisation based in the UK to adopt new technologies, strategies, and processes in order to unlock more effective product and service design, increase efficiency and profitability, and become more sustainable and inclusive.

The programme aims to address the productivity gap between London and regional areas, with businesses able to register across the UK, and integrates cutting-edge research exploring the barriers faced by underserved communities to inform the design delivery accelerator activity and increase equitable access to services.

Learn more and register your interest to participate

Upcoming events

CISI in-person CPD and networking event - Pensions Dashboards / Estimated Retirement Income within Dashboards

Date: Wednesday 24th April, 8:30am - 12:00pm

Location: University of Bristol

The CISI Bristol & Bath branch and CISI West Country branch welcomes their members and members' guests to join this in-person CPD and networking event at the University of Bristol.?

We will kick start the event with a networking breakfast and end with a great opportunity to network with industry peers!?

We will then welcome our two expert speakers, Julie Anderson-Hill (Pensions Dashboards Programme)?and Paul Cox (University of Bath), to share their knowledge on the pension's dashboard.?

Find out more and register

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