Now showing items 21-40 of 10504

    • A knowledge-driven model to assess inherent safety in process infrastructure

      Gholamizadeh, K.; Zarei, E.; Kabir, Sohag; Mamudu, A.; Aala, Y.; Mohammadfam, I. (2023-06)
      Process safety has drawn increasing attention in recent years and has been investigated from different perspectives, such as quantitative risk analysis, consequence modeling, and regulations. However, rare attempts have been made to focus on inherent safety design assessment, despite being the most cost-effective safety tactic and its vital role in sustainable development and safe operation of process infrastructure. Accordingly, the present research proposed a knowledge-driven model to assess inherent safety in process infrastructure under uncertainty. We first developed a holistic taxonomy of contributing factors into inherent safety design considering chemical, reaction, process, equipment, human factors, and organizational concerns associated with process plants. Then, we used subject matter experts, content validity ratio (CVR), and content validity index (CVI) to validate the taxonomy and data collection tools. We then employed a fuzzy inference system and the Extent Analysis (EA) method for knowledge acquisition under uncertainty. We tested the proposed model on a steam methane-reforming plant that produces hydrogen as renewable energy. The findings revealed the most contributing factors and indicators to improve the inherent safety design in the studied plant and effectively support the decision-making process to assign proper safety countermeasures.
    • The impacts of innovation and trade openness on bank market power: the proposal of a minimum distance cost function approach and a causal structure analysis

      Fukuyama, H.; Tsionas, M.; Tan, Yong (2023)
      This study estimates output market power in the Chinese banking industry using the multi-output Lerner index. We propose a minimum distance cost function approach, which allows us to determine not only the level of market power but also the non-profit maximizers and efficiency level of Chinese banks. Following the first-stage analysis, we employ the generalized method of moment system estimator to evaluate the impacts of bank innovation and trade openness on market power in a multi-output banking context. In particular, we innovatively propose a causal structure analysis based on Wang and Blei (2019) to validate and verify the robustness of our results. We also assess this relationship for different types of bank ownership in China. The findings suggest that Chinese banks exhibit high market power in loans. Furthermore, the results show that bank innovation and trade openness have a significant negative impact on market power in loans, but a significant positive impact on market power in securities. The results also indicate a significantly negative impact of trade openness on overall market power. We find that higher levels of innovation among state-owned and joint-stock commercial banks improve the overall level of market power. The results suggest that, for all bank ownership types, trade openness has a significant negative impact on market power in loans but a significant positive impact on market power in securities. The impact on the overall level of market power is consistently significant and negative.
    • Risk factors of diarrhoea among under-five children in Zimbabwe: A systematic review

      Garatsa, C.; Mohammadnezhad, Masoud; Kostrzynska, E.B.; Nwankwo, B.; Hagan, V.M. (2023-07)
      Introduction: Children are at a higher risk of succumbing to diarrhoea. Zimbabwe remains one of the countries topping in terms of morbidity and mortality due to diarrhoea diseases among under-fives. This study aims to determine factors affecting diarrhoea among under-five children in Zimbabwe. Methodology: A systematic review was executed based on searches from six databases. All types of studies published between 2018 and 2022 in English about diarrhoea disease and among children under the age of five in Zimbabwe were included. Seventeen articles met the requirements of this study. All the data was inputted onto a data extraction sheet and thematic analysis was carried out on the study outcomes to identify themes. Results: Diarrhoea risk factors can be categorized into two main themes; modifiable and non-modifiable diarrhoea risk factors. Under the modifiable risk factors are four subthemes: environmental, socio-economic, behavioural, and modifiable biological diarrhoea risk factors. Under the non-modifiable risk factors are two sub-themes: age and gender. For any Water, Hygiene and Sanitation (WASH) intervention to succeed, these risk factors should be present at optimum. If any of the factors is not optimally present, WASH interventions must concurrently address the risk factor or else the intervention is predestined to fail. Conclusion: WASH remains an important issue in Zimbabwe as a tool to improve the lives of children under five years old. There is a necessity to investigate why certain interventions work well in other low-income countries and not Zimbabwe. All WASH interventions must make a thorough baseline assessment of conditions present on the ground to ensure the success of interventions.
    • "Road traffic injury could be minimized when individual road users take more responsibility for their safety and the safety of others": Perception of healthcare workers in Vanuatu

      Fanai, S.; Mohammadnezhad, Masoud (2023-08)
      Introduction: Around 1.35 million deaths are caused by Road Traffic Injuries (RTIs) each year. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of Vanuatu's Health Care Workers (HCWs) regarding the existing preventative strategies for RTI. Materials and methods: In 2020, this study used qualitative approaches to collect data from HCWs using Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). Study participants were self-identified Ni-Vanuatu HCWs who had been serving for more than 6 months in three main hospitals where the study was conducted and purposive sampling was used to gather the study participants. To guide the FGDs, a semi-structured open-ended questionnaire was created. Thematic analysis was used to processed the data obtained, based on predetermined themes that were based on theory while also enabling the data to determine new themes. Result: From 5 FGDs with 22 HCWs who were emergency nurses, doctors and public health officers, data saturation was reached. The study yielded five main themes and sixteen subthemes. The relevance and trends of RTI, barriers to effective care, pre-hospital management capacity, barriers to pre-hospital care and addressing RTI were among the key subjects. The findings suggest that addressing health institutional leadership and resources will improve prevention of RTIs. Conclusion: Prevention of RTIs is hindered by the lack of health institutional capacities in terms of leadership and resources that include emergency equipment, financial and trained human resources. The health sector should consider developing stronger leadership in road safety to be an essential part of its core business.
    • Poloxamer-based nanogels as delivery systems: how structural requirements can drive their biological performance

      Shriky, Banah; Vigato, A.A.; Sepulveda, A.F.; Machado, I.P.; Ribeiro de Araujo, D. (springer, 2023-08)
      Poloxamers or Pluronics®-based nanogels are one of the most used matrices for developing delivery systems. Due to their thermoresponsive and flexible mechanical properties, they allowed the incorporation of several molecules including drugs, biomacromolecules, lipid-derivatives, polymers, and metallic, polymeric, or lipid nanocarriers. The thermogelling mechanism is driven by micelles formation and their self-assembly as phase organizations (lamellar, hexagonal, cubic) in response to microenvironmental conditions such as temperature, osmolarity, and additives incorporated. Then, different biophysical techniques have been used for investigating those structural transitions from the mechanisms to the preferential component’s orientation and organization. Since the design of PL-based pharmaceutical formulations is driven by the choice of the polymer type, considering its physico-chemical properties, it is also relevant to highlight that factors inherent to the polymeric matrix can be strongly influenced by the presence of additives and how they are able to determine the nanogels biopharmaceuticals properties such as bioadhesion, drug loading, surface interaction behavior, dissolution, and release rate control. In this review, we discuss the general applicability of three of the main biophysical techniques used to characterize those systems, scattering techniques (small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering), rheology and Fourier transform infrared absorption spectroscopy (FTIR), connecting their supramolecular structure and insights for formulating effective therapeutic delivery systems.
    • Reflections from an insider researcher ‘doing’ feminist participatory action research to co-produce a research agenda with British Pakistani women; a seldom heard group

      Iqbal, Halima; West, J.; McEachan, Rosemary; Haith-Cooper, Melanie (2023)
      Participation of community stakeholders in health research priority setting is an emerging trend. Despite this, the involvement of marginalised groups in research prioritisation is limited and where they are involved, sample sizes are small, where individuals are merely consulted with, rather than coproducing the research agenda. Without addressing power dynamics inherent in research prioritisation with marginalised groups, their engagement in the research process can be tokenistic and the resulting research agenda unreflective of their needs. This article, therefore, aims to generate knowledge on how feminist participatory action research was used to co-produce an obesity research agenda with British Pakistani women, a seldom heard population, living in deprived areas. The methodology enabled Pakistani women to be involved in all stages of the project, culminating in the co-production of an obesity research agenda that accurately reflects their unmet needs. Women’s engagement in the project led to their increased confidence, the formation of relationships that lasted beyond the research project, improvements to their lifestyles, and engagement in further research. Feminist participatory action research may be used by researchers as a guiding methodology due to its ability to improve women’s lives and develop research agendas for women’s health.
    • The Objective Pluralism of Isaiah Berlin A Historical Approach to Ethical and Political Philosophy

      Weinert, Friedel; Housden, Martyn; Ackroyd, John (University of BradfordSchool of Social Sciences. Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences, 2021)
      Isaiah Berlin’s doctrine of objective pluralism has been criticised as amounting in fact to ethical and political relativism. Berlin has relied on two arguments in attempting to refute this charge, those from common intelligibility and from shared values. I propose that the former argument alone is sufficient to refute relativism, whilst the latter argument leads not to pluralism but to a broad or narrow monism, depending on the number of shared values, since it fatally undermines the strong sense of incommensurability which is the defining characteristic of pluralism as a distinct and radical doctrine. Alongside his view that values are commonly intelligible, Berlin retains a minimal ethical universalism, framed in terms of his concept of ‘negative liberty’, or freedom from unwarranted interference. Some have argued that this inviolable ‘core’ of human freedom constitutes a form of liberal universalism. Whilst I concede that Berlin’s objective pluralism does exhibit a decidedly Western character, I argue that his ‘core’ is in fact a rational and pragmatic assertion of the minimal conditions for any meaningful and sustainable human life, whatever its diverse forms, rather than an endorsement of any universalist claims of liberalism, even minimal ones. I further argue that the common intelligibility of values on which Berlin’s refutation of relativism can be thought convincingly to rest is possible only because there is an essence and continuity in human ideas of a kind which is denied by Quentin Skinner and the Cambridge School, and which enable the historical understanding we clearly can achieve.
    • The Impact of the Empowerment of Women Police and Enhancing Their Role in Leadership. A Case Study of the Abu Dhabi Police General Head Quarter

      Irani, Zahir; Al Belooshi, Aamna M. (University of BradfordFaculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences, 2021)
      Women's empowerment in the police sector as leaders is an important study that has received little attention in the literature. Understanding the problems and hurdles, as well as solutions to empower women police today as leaders in the police force, was the emphasis of the study. The goal of this research was to investigate the concept of female police empowerment in the Abu Dhabi Police. This study looks at the important elements of empowerment for ADHGHQ women police, as well as the problems they encounter because of their gender in a historically male-dominated industry. The following four research questions served as a guide: 1) To what extent the principles of empowerment are implemented of women police in the ADPGHQ? 2) What is the impact of empowerment implementation on leadership of women police in the ADPGHQ? 3) What is the impact of empowerment implementation on skills of women police in the ADPGHQ? 4) What is the impact of empowerment implementation on the abilities of women police in the ADPGHQ? An in-depth survey and personnel meeting were conducted with women police operating in all ADPGHQ sectors to have a better grasp the issue. The data collection and analysis paradigms used in the research investigation were quantitative. The core data is gathered through questionnaires and personal meetings with a group of 650 female police officers from various sectors who work at the Abu Dhabi Police (ADHGHQ). Data was gathered via e-mail, and personnel were present. This research finishes with practice recommendations for strengthening police leadership in the ADPGHQ and removing real and perceived barriers to women's full involvement in the workforce and leadership. A proposal method was established to improve the position of women's police empowerment in leadership, according to the study. This approach is intended to empower female police officers in positions of leadership at ADPGHQ, but it can also be used as a general conceptual framework to empower women in other police sectors. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that women police require empowerment to achieve the desired leadership position.
    • Sensemaking in Dynamic Business Environments: Managerial Practices in the Oil and Gas Sector in Bahrain

      Weerakkody, Vishanth J.P.; Husain, Ismaeel M. (University of BradfordFaculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences, 2021)
      It has become the norm for organisations in many industrial sectors to constantly operate in dynamic, uncertain and challenging business environments. Technology, regulations, global economy, changing political actions and international conditions are all changing rapidly, creating dynamic business conditions for organisations to understand, react to and thus survive. The Oil and Gas (O&G) sector which is the backbone of the economic growth for many countries in the Middle East region is not an exception to the real world of business filled with uncertainties. The construction of meaning or sensemaking is a prerequisite management skill for complex problem solving and decision-making for survival in today’s increasingly dynamic business environments. Current literature on sensemaking tends to focus on senior management’s role in the process, overlooking the critical role middle management teams play in the construction of meaning. Further, although sensemaking literature illustrates the influence of sensegiving and sensebreaking on sensemaking, there is limited empirical research in existing literature on how middle management teams apply sensegiving and sensebreaking to influence the process. Finally, this research fills a gap in sensemaking research in developing countries to decolonise Western-based research and ensure that local culture and ideologies are taken into account. In particular, it provides important data for the O&G sector in Bahrain, which is important for the Middle East region. Therefore, this research investigates how middle management teams use sensemaking to understand complex problems and how they apply sensegiving and sensebreaking to influence the sensemaking process in Bahrain’s O&G sector. The data was gathered using a qualitative approach using in-depth semi-structured interviews, middle management team meeting observations and operational documents review. The findings include seven themes and 26 sub-themes are visualised in a four-step sensemaking process framework. This framework also illustrates the sensemaking triggers and properties, as well as the influences and sources of information middle management teams adopt to construct meaning in dynamic O&G environments. Further, the four-step sensemaking process framework incorporates the different sensegiving and sensebreaking techniques embraced. This research extends the existing sensemaking literature by providing a descriptive empirical framework to better understand middle management team sensemaking, sensegiving and sensebreaking in dynamic O&G environments. This four-step sensemaking process framework gives middle management teams a way to organise information related to events in an objective manner, enabling them to develop effective reactions to a fast-changing environment. The framework also offers human resource practitioners a platform to assess and develop middle management sensemaking skills.
    • Improved learning outcomes and teacher experience: A qualitative study of team-based learning in secondary schools

      Darby, Stella; O'Hanlon, D.; Casterton, S.; Harding, N.; O'Brien, A-M.; Quinn, Gemma L.; Urmeneta, O.; Tweddell, Simon (Elservier, 2023-06)
      Based on the benefits of Team-Based Learning (TBL) in higher education, our project investigated possible benefits of TBL in secondary education. We found that, despite challenges, the benefits of using TBL in secondary schools make it worth teachers’ time and effort. We conducted a year-long qualitative study with 13 teachers from Ireland, Spain and UK. While teachers found preparation time, institutional requirements, and managing student team dynamics challenging, challenges were outweighed by benefits including improved student engagement, quality of learning, skill development, and teacher job satisfaction. We recommend further TBL training for secondary-level teachers and further research into this topic
    • Services for people with young onset dementia: The 'Angela' project national UK survey of service use and satisfaction

      Stamou, Vasileios; La Fontaine Papadopoulos, Jenny H.; Gage, H.; Jones, B.; Williams, P.; O'Malley, M.; Parkes, J.; Carter, J.; Oyebode, Jan R. (2021-03)
      Objectives: Young onset dementia is associated with distinctive support needs but existing research on service provision has been largely small scale and qualitative. Our objective was to explore service use, cost and satisfaction across the UK. Methods: Information about socio‐demographic characteristics, service use and satisfaction were gathered from people with young onset dementia (YOD) and/or a family member/supporter via a national survey. Results: Two hundred and thirty‐three responses were analysed. Diagnosis was most commonly received through a Memory Clinic or Neurology. The type of service delivering diagnosis impacted on post‐diagnostic care. Those diagnosed in specialist YOD services were more likely to receive support within the first 6 weeks and receive ongoing care in the service where they were diagnosed. Ongoing care management arrangements varied but generally care was lacking. Around 42% reported no follow‐up during 6‐weeks after diagnosis; over a third reported seeing no health professional within the previous 3 months; just over a third had a key worker and just under a third had a care plan. Satisfaction and quality of care were highest in specialist services. Almost 60% of family members spent over 5 h per day caring; median costs of health and social care, 3 months, 2018, were £394 (interquartile range £389 to 640). Conclusions: Variation across diagnostic and post‐diagnostic care pathways for YOD leads to disparate experiences, with specialist young onset services being associated with better continuity, quality and satisfaction. More specialist services are needed so all with YOD can access age‐appropriate care.
    • The precariousness of living with, and caring for people with, dementia: Insights from the IDEAL programme

      Hillman, A.; Jones, I.R.; Quinn, Catherine; Pentecost, C.; Stapley, S.; Charlwood, C.; Clare, L. (2023-08)
      This paper uses precarity as a framework to understand the vulnerabilities experienced by those living with or caring for someone living with dementia. Drawing on qualitative interview data from the Improving the Experience of Dementia and Enhancing Active Life (IDEAL) programme, we attend to our participants' reflections on how they manage the condition and the wider circumstances in which this occurs. To interrogate the utility of precarity, we focus on our participants' descriptions of needs and challenges and set these alongside both the wider contexts in which they seek or offer care (formal and informal) and the sets of values attributed to different ways of living with dementia. Building on the work of Portacolone, our analysis identified four interconnected themes: uncertainty; experiences of support and services; independence and personhood; and cumulative pressures and concerns. We develop this analysis by reviewing how our themes reflect, extend, or depart from previously identified markers of precarity and consider the specific ways in which these markers shape the lives of those living with dementia.
    • Enhancement of precise underwater object localization

      Kaveripakum, S.; Chinthaginjala, R.; Anbazhagan, R.; Alibakhshikenari, M.; Virdee, B.; Khan, S.; Pau, G.; See, C.H.; Dayoub, I.; Livreri, P.; et al. (Radio Science, 2023-09)
      Underwater communication applications extensively use localization services for object identification. Because of their significant impact on ocean exploration and monitoring, underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSN) are becoming increasingly popular, and acoustic communications have largely overtaken radio frequency (RF) broadcasts as the dominant means of communication. The two localization methods that are most frequently employed are those that estimate the angle of arrival (AOA) and the time difference of arrival (TDoA). The military and civilian sectors rely heavily on UWSN for object identification in the underwater environment. As a result, there is a need in UWSN for an accurate localization technique that accounts for dynamic nature of the underwater environment. Time and position data are the two key parameters to accurately define the position of an object. Moreover, due to climate change there is now a need to constrain energy consumption by UWSN to limit carbon emission to meet net-zero target by 2050. To meet these challenges, we have developed an efficient localization algorithm for determining an object position based on the angle and distance of arrival of beacon signals. We have considered the factors like sensor nodes not being in time sync with each other and the fact that the speed of sound varies in water. Our simulation results show that the proposed approach can achieve great localization accuracy while accounting for temporal synchronization inaccuracies. When compared to existing localization approaches, the mean estimation error (MEE) and energy consumption figures, the proposed approach outperforms them. The MEEs is shown to vary between 84.2154m and 93.8275m for four trials, 61.2256m and 92.7956m for eight trials, and 42.6584m and 119.5228m for twelve trials. Comparatively, the distance-based measurements show higher accuracy than the angle-based measurements.
    • Metamaterials and Metasurfaces

      Ojaroudi Parchin, Naser; Ojaroudi, M.; Abd-Alhameed, Raed A. (MDPI, 2023-07)
    • The future of chemical weapons: advances in the development of anti-plant agents

      Whitby, Simon M. (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2018)
      Set in the context of efforts to utilise chemicals as weapons of war, that have their origins in collaborative efforts between the UK and the US during World War I, this chapter examines the origins, the evolution, and the hostile misuse of chemical anti-crop agents and defoliants. Out of efforts between the two countries that endured throughout World War II, military interest in chemical anti-crop agents and defoliants emerged in-part as a consequence of a close association between civilian chemistry and military chemistry. It is shown by way of insights provided from official sources from the United Kingdom (UK) National Archive that UK use of such agents in Malaya resulted in the emergence of new techniques concerning the large-scale use of chemical anti-plant agents, as well as methods for their widespread dissemination. It is argued here that the above can be seen as a prelude to subsequent use in Vietnam, the latter having implications of relevance to human health and for the environment. It is shown that the role of science policy experts in bringing influence to bear on policy-makers during the latter part of the Vietnam War was significant in bringing about change in policy and an end to use in Vietnam. Also of significance is the issue of chemical weapons in the context of efforts to codify the norm of non-use under the Geneva Protocol, under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), and under a range of related prohibition regimes. This chapter considers the implications of the scientific and technological developments in phytobiology of relevance, in particular, to auxins (work on endogenous growth regulators—auxins—would lead to the discovery of “the first systemic or hormone herbicides”). The findings are drawn together in a concluding section at the end of this chapter.
    • After COVID-19: time to agree a biosecurity code of conduct under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention

      Whitby, Simon M.; Tang, C.; Shang, L.; Dando, Malcolm R. (Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, 2020-06)
      The devastating COVID-19 disease outbreak of 2020 is likely to cause a profound rethink of how national and international communities deal with such outbreaks whether they are caused naturally, accidentally or deliberately. This paper suggests that now is the time to build on two decades of work within the BTWC and for States Parties to agree on a Biosecurity Code of Conduct under the Convention as proposed by China. Over the past two decades, as part of their attempts to strengthen the BTWC and thereby to help prevent the development of biological and toxin weapons, States Parties have given considerable attention to the potential utility of Codes of Conduct for life and associated scientists. This paper reviews these debates about this novel dual-use ethical challenge within the Convention and concludes that a Code of Conduct should be agreed at the 2021 Review Conference, but that radical reorientation of the mandatory education of such scientists will also be needed to make the agreed code effective.
    • Strengthening biological security after COVID-19: Using cartoons for engaging life science stakeholders with the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC)

      Novossiolova, T.; Whitby, Simon M.; Dando, Malcolm R.; Shang, L. (2022-06)
      The devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have acutely shown the need for maintaining robust international and national systems for biological security and ensuring that life sciences are used only for peaceful purposes. Life science stakeholders can play an important role in safeguarding scientific and technological advances in biology and related fields against accidental or deliberate misuse, not least because they are on the frontlines of driving innovation. In this paper, we argue that enhancing awareness and understanding of the risk of deliberate disease is essential for effective biological security. We first discuss the issue of ‘dual use’ in science and technology as it relates to disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Second, we review how scientist engagement with dual-use risks has been addressed in the context of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC). Third, we report on the development of an innovative awareness-raising tool, a cartoon series, that can be used for engaging life science stakeholders with BTWC issues. Finally, we outline a set of practical considerations for promoting sustainable life science engagement with the BTWC.
    • Meeting the challenges of chemical and biological weapons: strengthening the chemical and biological disarmament and non-proliferation regimes

      Edwards, B.; Novossiolova, T.; Crowley, Michael J.A.; Whitby, Simon M.; Dando, Malcolm R.; Shang, L. (2022-04)
      In this report, we identify some of the key technical and political challenges currently facing the broader Chemical and Biological Weapon (CBW) regime- with a particular emphasis on major forthcoming diplomatic meetings. Most significantly the Ninth Review Conference of the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (1972) (BTWC) which will take place in 2022 and preparations for the Fifth Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention (1993) (CWC), expected in 2023. This report is an output of an ongoing project, designed to stimulate thinking and discussion about these issues, within relevant stakeholder communities. The report provides an introduction to this issue area for the general reader before surveying key issues and developing a series of practical policy suggestions for further consideration.
    • Strengthening the biological and toxin weapons convention after COVID-19

      Shang, L.; Whitby, Simon M.; Dando, Malcolm R. (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2021-08)
      The COVID-19 virus pandemic has again demonstrated the devastating impact that a microbial pathogen can have on our health, society and economic systems. It necessitates a fundamental rethink of how the security of our societies can be better sustained. This rethinking will require many aspects of our security systems to be re-examined, but we concentrate here on the consequences of the rapid advances being made in the life and associated sciences. In this chapter, we will describe and analyse one of the most likely means by which the BTWC could be strengthened at the 9th Review Conference, namely: agreement of an International Aspirational Code of Conduct supported by mandatory biological security education for life and associated scientists. We conclude that a vigorous effort by civil society will be needed to assist the achievement of an agreement on this issue at the 9th Review Conference.
    • Board diversity and corporate propensity to R&D spending

      Asad, Muhammad; Akbar, Saeed; Li, Jing; Shah, S.Z.A. (Elsvier, 2023-10)
      Drawing on collective contributions and group performance perspectives, this paper examines the role of board diversity in firms’ R&D investment decisions. Building on a fault-line argument about a team’s demographic attributes, this study also decomposes the impact of demographic and cognitive diversity on R&D spending. The study sample contains UK data of non-financial companies covering the period between 2005 and 2018. We employ panel data analysis techniques and control for potential endogeneity issues through the application of the two-step system Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) estimations. The findings demonstrate a positive and significant relationship between board diversity and level of corporate R&D spending. The findings also show cognitive diversity as significantly positively associated with corporate R&D investments. Demographic diversity, however, has an insignificant relationship with corporate spending on R&D. The results further show that demographic diversity negatively moderates the relationship between cognitive diversity and spending on R&D. Our main findings document that the board’s attributes as a group significantly influence decisions of strategic importance such as, investment in R&D projects. The findings on sub-dimensions of board diversity imply that as compared to demographic diversity, functional/cognitive diversity is more relevant to strategic decisions and related outcomes. The study has practical implications for shareholders in documenting the importance of board diversity, and policy implications for regulators in highlighting the separate roles of behavioural and cognitive diversity in shaping firms’ strategic investment decisions.