University of York students hit the heights
Posted on 13 July 2010
Luke’s app will help office workers watch their weight
Luke Scott-Berry (22), from Robin Hood’s Bay near Whitby, will be graduating with more than just a degree under his belt.
Electronics student Luke, under the supervision of Dr Adar Pelah, has developed an innovative mobile phone application, aimed at office workers, which measures activity during the working day and intelligently schedules break reminders.
The app, which is likely to be called OfficeSlim, has four main features:
- It schedules breaks for health and ergonomic reasons intelligently around a user’s natural and spontaneous activity.
- It tracks a user’s activity through a built in pedometer and it increases activity through a pace feedback mechanism designed to increase a user’s walking pace.
- It times breaks based on information from medical and ergonomic studies that suggest these breaks will actually increase net productivity.
- It maintains a personal log of the user's activity levels, calorie expenditures and goals achieved over time.
The work was guided by medical research on obesity and on the benefits of what is called NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), which has shown that even modest movements can together make a big difference to health, fitness and lifespan.
Luke received a 'starred' First on his project, and a cash award for the Best Project in Electronics Research and Enterprise. With advice from the University's Research and Enterprise Office, Luke and Dr Pelah plan to launch the application commercially. They are also seeking endorsement from organisations such as the British Heart Foundation and the National Obesity Forum.
Luke said: “In about a month’s time I will be moving to London to start work with Deloitte as a technology analyst. I will undergo a 21-month training programme before becoming a technology consultant with the firm. Before then I plan on polishing and branding the application before publishing it. I have also started creating another mobile application that I hope to release in the near future.”
OfficeSlim will be available to download from https://store.ovi.com/. If you are an office worker and would like to participate in early user tests of the benefits of using the app contact Dr Pelah on ap23@york.ac.uk.
Luke is graduating with an MEng in Electronic Engineering.
Stacy’s degree of care for her Mum
Stacy Clark (22) had just completed the second year in the Department of Biology, when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The news came as a shock and Stacy spent weekdays at the University and weekends back in Cumbria to be by her mother’s side as she underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy as well as undergoing major surgery.
Stacy said: “My mum’s treatment was never straightforward, so my partner, Jamie, and I would travel back to be with her most weekends. We’re lucky it’s only a two and a half hour drive.
“It was hard to juggle my university work and the travelling. I would do most of my work during the week, or in the car. My supervisor was really supportive, but I think it’s difficult for people to realise how much it affects you emotionally.”
When the treatment caused Stacy’s mother to lose her hair, a “drunken conversation” led to Stacy offering to shave her head. Stacy’s friend Jennie Harvey, a fellow Biology student, also agreed to do it along with three of Stacy’s male friends back home in Cumbria also joined in, raising £3000 for cancer research.
Stacy’s mum is recovering, but will be having her second breast removed in the next 12 months, meaning another year of treatment. Thankfully, she is well enough to attend her daughter’s Graduation Ceremony.
Stacy is graduating with a BSc in Ecology, Conservation and the Environment, and is looking forward to coming back to the University to do her Postgraduate Certificate in Education in October.
Business aim for mature student Gerald
Gerald Donga (29) graduates seven years after leaving his hometime of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, in pursuit of a university degree.
Before leaving Zimbabwe, Gerald had been studying at the National University of Science and Technology, but the Zimbabwean economy was majoring steep decline causing living standards of the average family to fall to levels comparable to those of a country in civil war. He moved to the UK in 2002 as an economic migrant.
Gerald joined the Army but ill health forced him to leave the services in 2007.
Gerald had been studying for a BSC in Economics and Finance through the Open University, and after his discharge from the Army was given an unconditional offer on to the same programme at the University of York as a mature student.
Gerald said: “I found it quite easy to juggle family life and my studies in the first few months of my degree course. However, with a child on the way in the run-up to my second year exams, it proved almost impossible to get the balance right. I was soon struggling to find time for my studies, especially after my first child was born.”
After discussions with his partner and relatives, Gerald made the difficult decision to find a flat on campus for the second and third term of his third year.
He said: “It helped enormously in my preparation for the final exams. In the end I achieved my ultimate goal. I made it with a 2:1 average final classification for my degree.”
Gerald is now applying for jobs in finance and accountancy, and is studying for a professional accountancy qualification through the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. He is also working on a self-employment project plan as contingency to formal employment, and hopes to run his own business within five years.
He said: “I am grateful to the Department of Economics and the University in general for believing in me as a mature student to deliver good results in spite of the length of time I had out of formal education. It was no easy feat to adjust to essay writing, let alone coming up with a good readable work week in, week out. But with help and a lot of determination, I made it in the end.”
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