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Generative AI and Skills: Interview Data, 2024
No full textThe project studies how Generative AI tools are adopted and integrated into the work of digital and creative SMEs in Grater Brighton. It focused specifically on skills and the way Generative AI tools change, augment or replace existing skills.
The research sought to answer the following research questions:
c. How do advanced digital SMEs adopt and utilise GenAI?
d. How does the use of GenAI transform a variety of tasks, in the case of digital firms, especially writing, audio/visual production and coding?
e. How are 'legacy' skills in these task areas replaced and rendered obsolete?
f. How are extant skills augmented and transformed?
The data comprises semi-structured interviews with representatives of digital and creative micro and SMEs in the Greater Brighton area. The interviews explore the ways in which Generative AI tools are adopted and used by this group of early adopters with the aim of understanding their impact on skills. Specifically, the data explores the displacement or augmentation of the existing skills with the ones brought about by the use of Generative AI tools.The Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Dig.IT) will establish itself as an essential resource for those wanting to understand how new digital technologies are profoundly reshaping the world of work. Digitalisation is a topical feature of contemporary debate. For evangelists, technology offers new opportunities for those seeking work and increased flexibility and autonomy for those in work. More pessimistic visions, in contrast, see a future where jobs are either destroyed by robots or degraded through increasingly precarious contracts and computerised monitoring. Take Uber as an example: the company claims it is creating opportunities for self-employed entrepreneurs; while workers' groups increasingly challenge such claims through legal means to improve their rights at work.
While such positive and pessimistic scenarios abound of an increasingly fragmented, digitalised and flexible transformation of work across the globe, theoretical understanding of contemporary developments remains underdeveloped and systematic empirical analyses are lacking. We know, for example, that employers and governments are struggling to cope with and understand the pace and consequences of digital change, while individuals face new uncertainties over how to become and stay 'connected' in turbulent labour markets. Yet, we have no real understanding of what it means to be a 'connected worker' in an increasing 'connected' economy. Drawing resources from different academic fields of study, Dig.IT will provide an empirically innovative and international broad body of knowledge that will offer authoritative insights into the impact of digitalisation on the future of work.
The Dig.IT centre will be jointly led by the Universities of Sussex and Leeds, supported by leading experts from Aberdeen, Cambridge, Manchester and Monash Universities. Its core research programme will cover four broad-ranging research themes. Theme one will set the conceptual and quantitative base for the centre's activities. Theme two involves a large-scale survey of Employers' Digital Practices at Work. Theme three involves qualitative research on employers' and employees' experiences of digitalisation at work across 4 sectors (Creative industries, Business Services, Consumer Services, Public Services). Theme 4 examines how the disconnected attempt to reconnect, through Public Employment Services, the growth of new types of self-employment, platform work and workers' responses to building new forms of voice and representation in an international context. Specific projects include:
1. The Impact of Digitalisation on Work and Employment
-Conceptualising digital futures, historically, regionally and internationally
-Comparative regulation of digital employment
- Mapping regional and international trends of digital technology and work
2. Employers' Digital Practices at Work Survey
3. Employers' and employees' experiences of digital work across sectors
-Changing management processes and practices
-Workers' experiences of digital transformation
4. Reconnecting the disconnected: new channels of voice and representation
- displaced workers, job search and the public employment service
- self-employment, interest representation and voice
Dig.IT will establish a Data Observatory on digital futures at work to promote our findings through an interactive website, report on a series of methodological seminars and new experimental methods and deliver extensive outreach activities. It will act as a one-platform library of resources at the forefront of research on digital work and will establish itself as a focal point for decision-makers across the policy spectrum, connecting with industrial strategy, employment and welfare policy. It will also manage an Innovation Fund designed to fund novel research ideas, from across the academic community as they emerge over the life course of the centre.</p
Validation of the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 for Use With Kidney Transplant Recipients, 2024
No full textChronic kidney disease (CKD) affects approximately 850 million people worldwide, imposing not only substantial health burdens but also complex dietary management challenges. For kidney transplant recipients (KTRs), dietary restrictions often lessen post-transplant, yet the transition to a 'normal' diet is fraught with difficulty after years of externally imposed rules. In this context, intuitive eating, which emphasises internal hunger and satiety cues over external dietary mandates, may support the development of sustainable, self-managed eating behaviours. The Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2) is currently the most widely-used measure of intuitive eating, but it has not previously been validated for use with KTRs. These datasets form part of a study to validate the IES-2 for use with KTRs. Data were collected between July 2021 and August 2022 using Jisc Online Surveys. Participants were 487 adults (245 kidney transplant recipients and 242 people without kidney disease) residing in the UK. Participants were recruited online via social media and the mailing lists of several kidney disease charities. In addition to demographic information collected, measures used were: the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS) and the Socially Desirable Response Set (SDRS-5).Perfectionism is characterised by excessive self-criticism and striving for excellence, but has been associated with poorer health outcomes in some clinical groups. This is sometimes buffered by self-compassion, a trait characterised by self-kindness and less self-judgement, but this has not yet been explored for kidney transplant recipients (KTRs). Three inter-connected studies were undertaken to assess how these self-attitudes were associated with stress, coping, health-related quality of life and intuitive eating for KTRs, based on an established model of perfectionism in illness.</p
Determinants of Flow Across Contexts: A 6 Month Study, 2021
No full textThe study was designed to assess the dynamic within-person relationships between flow experiences and variables that previous studies had shown to be associated in cross-sectional and experimental studies.
This six-month longitudinal study investigates within-person dynamics between flow experiences and psychological factors previously linked to flow in cross-sectional and experimental work. UK adults were assessed at baseline, three months, and six months; at each wave, measures included frequency of flow, psychological well-being, personal values and goals (Materialistic Values Scale; Aspiration Index-short forms), psychological need satisfaction, self-control, and experiential avoidance, enabling estimation of within-person associations over time.We propose to establish a multi-disciplinary Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP). Led by the University of Surrey, CUSP will work with a range of academic and non-academic partners to establish a rich international network of collaborative research. The aim of this research will be to explore the economic, ecological, social and governance dimensions of sustainable prosperity and to make concrete recommendations to government, business and civil society in pursuit of it.
Our guiding vision for sustainable prosperity is one in which people everywhere have the capability to flourish as human beings - within the ecological and resource constraints of a finite planet. Our work will explore not just the economic aspects of this challenge, but also its social, political and philosophical dimensions. We will address the implications of sustainable prosperity at the level of households and firms; and we will explore sector-level and macro-economic implications of different pathways to prosperity. We will pay particular attention to the pragmatic steps that need to be taken by enterprise, government and civil society in order to achieve a sustainable prosperity.
The CUSP work programme is split into five themes (our MAPSS framework). Theme M explores the moral framing and contested meanings of prosperity itself. Taking a broadly philosophical approach we examine how people, enterprise and government negotiate the tensions between sustainability and prosperity. Theme A explores the role of the arts and of culture in our society. We will look not only at the role of the arts in communicating sustainability but at culture as a vital element in prosperity itself. Theme P addresses the politics of sustainable prosperity and explores the institutional shifts that will be needed to achieve it. We will work closely with both corporate and social enterprise to test new models of sustainability for business. Theme S1 explores the social and psychological dimensions of prosperity. We will work with households and individuals in order to understand how people negotiate their aspirations for the good life. As part of this theme we will engage with UNEP in a major study of young people's lifestyles across the world. Theme S2 examines the complex dynamics of social and economic systems on which sustainable prosperity depends. We will address in particular the challenge of achieving financial stability and high employment under conditions of constrained resource consumption.
Alongside our MAPSS work programme, we will initiate a major international Sustainable Prosperity Dialogue (chaired by Dr Rowan Williams - former Archbishop of Canterbury and Master of Magdalene College Cambridge). We will also establish an international network of CUSP Fellows from both academic and non-academic institutions.</p
Improving Healthcare at the Intersection of Gender and Protracted Displacement amongst Somali and Congolese Refugees and Internally Displaced People, 2020-2024
No full textThe study aimed to acquire the following aims:
1) To support the right to healthcare and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in contexts of protracted displacement and vulnerability (SDG3).
2) To improve gender equality in the context of gendered access to healthcare services (SDG5).
The main objectives were:
1) To identify and analyse current policy processes that respond to the health needs of forcibly displaced people and
thereby identify existing models for integrating those populations into health systems that could be made applicable to our
various protracted displacement contexts.
2) To identify key neglected chronic mental health conditions (and comorbid chronic physical health conditions) associated
with protracted displacement, conflict, and gendered violence.
3) To map the types and locations of healthcare providers that displaced people turn to for treatment for chronic mental
health conditions (and comorbid physical health conditions).
4) To document how gender and other factors influence health seeking by displaced people for physical and mental health
conditions associated with displacement, conflict and violence.
The research questions were:
1) What existing models for integrating displaced people into national healthcare systems could be applied in our protracted displacement contexts?
2) What mental health chronic conditions (and comorbid physical conditions) associated with displacement, violence, and gendered conflict are currently neglected in our field sites?
3) What types of healthcare providers do displaced people turn to for treatment for mental (and physical) ill-health conditions associated with displacement, conflict and violence?
4) How do gender and other factors influence whether and when displaced people seek treatment for mental and physical health conditions associated with conflict and violence?This project aimed to help displaced people to access appropriate healthcare for long-term physical and mental health conditions associated with protracted displacement, conflict, and gendered violence. The category of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) receives a great deal of attention. However, there is limited research on how gendered violence, including violence relating to sexuality, is experienced in displacement contexts. There is also limited understanding of how gender, sexuality, and related violence affect access to healthcare, and how that can result in neglected chronic health conditions, particularly mental ill-health. Similarly, much attention is devoted to immediate healthcare needs following SGBV, but longer-term physical and mental health conditions are not adequately addressed. Displaced people face multiple barriers when seeking healthcare in protracted displacement settings, with the result that long-term health conditions are often misdiagnosed and mistreated or undiagnosed and untreated.
This project examined access to care and the responsiveness of healthcare providers for displaced Congolese and Somalis in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Somali, Kenya, and South Africa. Eastern DRC and Somalia have both experienced long-term conflict and displacement since the early 1990s, leading to large populations of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) within these countries and large refugee populations across the region. Conflict and displacement in Eastern DRC and Somalia are characterised by high rates of sexual and gender-based violence, and victims are stigmatised through prevailing gender and sexual norms. Existing health research tends to focus on the immediate aftermath of violence rather than on long-term mental and physical health conditions. The project had eight field sites in four countries. The four IDP field sites were one formal camp and one informal settlement each in Eastern DRC and Somalia, both of which have weak health systems. The four refugee field sites were Congolese and Somali settlements in Kenya and South Africa, which have different health systems and different refugee laws and policies.
The project brought together researchers and practitioners from international development, migration studies, gender studies, medical anthropology, public health and health policy, and medical sciences to undertake interdisciplinary empirical research in these protracted displacement contexts. Panzi Foundation (DRC) and ARQ International (Netherlands) guided teams of researchers based at the University of Edinburgh (UK), the University of Kinshasa (DRC), the Somali Institute for Development and Research (Somalia), Amref International University (Kenya), and the University of Witwatersrand (South Africa). Project activities were designed to: 1) enhance the capacity of partner organisations; 2) support the inclusion of displaced people in healthcare systems; 3) foster international networks.</p
Viability of Reusable Packaging Systems: Interviews With Dairy Stakeholders, 2024
No full textMotivation and Aims: Despite the widely reported potential of reusable packaging systems and their inclusion in national plastics pacts, their uptake in the UK remains very limited. This study was motivated by the need to understand the reasons for this slow adoption, aiming to reduce plastic packaging waste and resource use. Focusing on the UK dairy sector, a significant contributor to grocery plastic packaging, the research used a hypothetical model of yogurt supplied in returnable pots as a case study. The central aim was to use this model to identify and analyse the barriers and enablers to implementing a large-scale reusable packaging system by interviewing stakeholders from across the proposed supply chain.
Data and Topics Covered: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with professionals from companies representing key stages of the supply chain, including packaging and yogurt manufacturers, retailers, logistics providers, waste management, and reuse start-ups.
The interviews explored several core topics, including participants' current operational processes, their company's stance on single-use plastics, and previous engagement with reuse trials. The key focus was on identifying the perceived benefits, barriers, and necessary triggers for change, such as legislation or standardisation.
Analysis of the interview transcripts revealed eight distinct "storylines". While interviewees generally agreed that ‘reuse is the future’, most discussion centred on the significant barriers. Prominent topics included the lack of a proven business case (‘there is no room for altruism in the boardroom’), insufficient data to justify investment (‘we don’t have the numbers’), and concerns over brand identity (‘brand is packaging’). Other key themes were the perception that ‘consumers aren’t ready’, and the consensus that progress requires collaboration, considerable effort, and essential legislation and standardisation.Our current approach to packaging food and other products is not sustainable; being primarily based on single-use plastics that, when disposed of incorrectly, cause significant harm to the environment. Recycling, while clearly a better option than landfill, also has its limitations - e.g., the functional properties of plastics degrade as a result of the recycling process. And reducing consumption is only possible to a certain degree. It is therefore clear that we - that is science, industry, government, and society - need to find ways to enable people to reuse packaging, such that it stays in circulation longer before ending up in the waste stream. The proposed research, led by a multidisciplinary team of scientists working in partnership with key stakeholders, will explore models of reuse and provide the insights needed to enable a wholesale shift toward reuse.
Our research will be structured around five work packages (WPs). WP1 will examine the language that people use to describe different types of plastic and actions associated with their reuse / disposal. We will study the extent to which public understanding of plastic and actions is aligned with that of stakeholders (e.g., local authorities, manufacturers), and how language can be used as a tool to promote changes in thinking and behaviour (e.g., by describing materials and actions in different ways). WP2 will look at both historical (e.g., doorstep delivery of milk) and contemporary (e.g., supermarket refill stations) models of reuse, as well as standardised models of packaging (e.g., tin cans) to identify what role reuse might play in the future and what factors might facilitate and/or impede this. WP3 will identify what people might be willing to reuse, when, and why. We will also consider the point at which deterioration in materials and / or potential contamination makes reuse unacceptable; and, critically, how such decisions might be shifted in an effort to promote (appropriate) reuse. WP4 will use life cycle assessment to identify the environmental impacts of a range of different reuse models in a range of different contexts; thereby providing the data needed to accurately determine which model of reuse is "best". Finally, WP5 will investigate the suitability of current and emerging polymers, and other materials for reusable packaging by simulating repeated washing and potential contamination by ingredients in food, personal care, and household products.
Together, the outputs of the proposed research will be an understanding, based on robust scientific data, of when and how reuse models for plastic packaging make good sense. For example, our research may lay the groundwork for promoting a societal-shift in thinking toward buying the product, but renting the packaging. Our approach recognises that a new system that prioritises reuse, and then recycling, of durable materials requires a step change in behaviour and that truly creative and novel ideas occur at the interfaces between disciplines, when different perspectives are brought together in an open and 'safe' environment. The applicants have demonstrated their ability to work together as a multidisciplinary team alongside key stakeholders as in an on-going single use plastics project. The present proposal describes the research needed to translate this expertise and initial ideas into scientifically rigorous and joined up data that can provide the basis for delivering reuse as a national (and potentially international) vision; thereby, preventing plastic from entering the environment and stimulating more sustainable business, supply chain, and economic models.</p
Growing Up in Scotland: Cohort 1: Sweep 11, 2021-2023, School Leaver Destinations Data: Secure Access
No full textAbstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Growing Up in Scotland (GUS) study is a large-scale longitudinal social survey which follows the lives of several groups of Scottish children from infancy through childhood and adolescence, and aims to provide important new information on children and their families in Scotland. The study forms a central part of the Scottish Government's strategy for the long-term monitoring and evaluation of its policies for children, with a specific focus on the early years. Unlike other similar cohort studies, this survey has a specifically Scottish focus. A key objective of GUS is to address a significant gap in the evidence base for early years policy monitoring and evaluation. The study seeks both to describe the characteristics, circumstances and experiences of children in their early years (and their parents) in Scotland and, through its longitudinal design, to generate a better understanding of how children's start in life can shape their longer term prospects and development.Since 2005, study design and data collection have been undertaken by ScotCen Social Research with collaborations with the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships, based at the University of Edinburgh and the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit over certain periods of the project. The survey design consisted of recruiting an initial total of 8,000 parents in 2005, comprising two cohorts of children (5,000 from birth, 3,000 from age two years and ten months), and then interviewing parents annually until their child reached age five years ten months. Further fieldwork was undertaken with the birth cohort when the children were around eight, ten, twelve and fourteen years old. A boost sample of 500 children from predominantly high deprivation areas was added to the cohort as part of the age 12 fieldwork.For sweeps 1 to 9 data were collected via an in-home, face-to-face interview with self-complete sections. Fieldwork for sweeps 10 and 11 were disrupted due to the COVID pandemic. As a result, portions of the data were collected via web and telephone questionnaires whilst others involved face-to-face interviews where they were permitted. The study user guides provide further details.Special Licence data:The main survey data are available under Special Licence:SNs 9373-9383 and 9386-9387 - Growing Up in Scotland: Cohort 1SN 7432 - Growing Up in Scotland: Cohort 2SN 8366 - Growing Up in Scotland: Cohort 1, Primary 6 Teacher SurveySecure Access Geographic Data:Geographic data are available under Secure Access and are separated by cohort, sweep and type of geographic variable. Information is available on the GUS Access Data web page. Users must also include the main Growing Up in Scotland Special Licence data in the Accredited Researcher Proposal form and add it to their projects (please note there is no need for Secure Access users to complete a separate Special Licence application).Secure Access Early Learning and Childcare Administrative Data:Care Inspectorate quality information on the settings which provided children in Birth Cohort 1 and Birth Cohort 2 with their state-funded early learning and childcare (pre-school) entitlement when they were aged between 3 and 5 years old is available under SN 8543 (Birth Cohort 1) and SN 8544 (Birth Cohort 2).Secure Access Linked Administrative Data:A data matching exercise was was undertaken using the Scottish Government Pupil Census at Birth Cohort 1 Sweep 11 and participants were linked with their Scottish Candidate Number (SCN). The SCNs were then supplied to the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), who were able to provide the attainment records for participants (available under SN 9447). The SCNs were then supplied to Skills Development Scotland (SDS), who were able to provide the school leaver destinations record for participants (available under SN 9448).SN 9448 - Growing Up in Scotland: Cohort 1: Sweep 11, 2021-2023, School Leaver Destinations Data: Secure AccessUsing GUS participants date of birth, postcode and school SEED code, a data matching exercise was undertaken using the Scottish Government Pupil Census. Using these identifiers, participants were linked with their Scottish Candidate Number (SCN). SCNs are allocated to pupils at school and in further-education colleges who undertake Scottish Qualification Authority courses.
re allocated to pupils at school and in further-education colleges who undertake Scottish Qualification Authority courses.Once the matching exercise was complete, over 90% of Sweep 11 GUS participants were matched with their SCN. The pupil census only includes pupils at Local Authority funded schools in Scotland. Therefore, of those that could not be matched, the majority are most likely pupils at independent or private schools. The SCNs were then supplied to Skills Development Scotland (SDS), who were able to provide the school leaver destinations record for participants. SCNs have since been removed from the dataset.When researchers are approved/accredited to access this study, the GUS Cohort 1, Sweep 11 study (SN 9383) will be automatically provided alongside.Main Topics:This dataset contains five additional variables included from the SDS Opportunities for All dataset, along with a GUSID to link with GUS survey responses.</p
House Price Per Square Metre in England and Wales, 1995-2023
No full textThis repository is the third updated version of the attribute-linked residential property price dataset in UK Data Service ReShare 854240 (https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/854240/). As with the first updated version (ReShare 855033 https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/855033/) in 2021, this updated dataset contains individual property transactions and associated variables from both Land Registry Price Paid Dataset (LR PPD) and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Domestic Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) data. This is a linked result by address matching between LR-PPD data (1/1/1995-31/10/2023) and Domestic EPCs data (ending with 31/10/2023). It is the whole of the 2023 update dataset published in the Greater London Authority (GLA) London Datastore (https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/house-price-per-square-metre-in-england-and-wales).
The linked dataset in this repository is the uncorrected version, recording over 21 million transactions with 107 variables in England and Wales between 1/1/1995 and 31/10/2023. We have offered technical validation and data cleaning code in UKDA ReShare 854240 to help users to evaluate the representation and clean up the data.
This repository covers the original LR PPD and Domestic EPCs for the linked data (house price per square metre dataset). Similar to the first updated version, a field header has been added in LR PPD. Six variables (LMK_KEY, address, address 1, address 2, address 3, postcode) in Domestic EPCs are removed. A newly created unique identifier (id) is added in Domestic EPCs, this id is newly created for the Domestic EPCs(downloaded on 2/12/2023). It is not the same id as the id in the Domestic EPCs from UK Data Service ReShare 854240 and ReShare 855033 or the ReShare 856204. Since November 2021, DLUCH has published Domestic EPCs with the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) hence the dataset in this repository contains the UPRN information from the Domestic EPCs
Return of Austerity Imperils Global Health, 2021-2024
No full textThis study was conducted in response to widespread concern about the global lack of preparedness for the coronavirus pandemic, particularly in lower-income and middle-income countries. The research was motivated by appeals from international organisations for increased investment in public health infrastructure and pandemic response systems. The primary aim was to assess whether national health budgets in these countries were likely to grow in line with such recommendations, or whether economic pressures would lead to reductions in public spending.
The study relied on publicly available fiscal projections released by a major international financial institution. These projections included anticipated government expenditure on health services and external debt repayments. The data were secondary in nature and covered a broad sample of countries classified by income level. No primary data collection was undertaken; instead, the analysis involved comparative evaluation of projected spending levels against historical averages from the previous decade.
The findings revealed that by the year two thousand and twenty-four, nearly half of the countries studied were expected to allocate less public funding than the average observed during the twenty-tens. A key factor driving this trend was the sharp increase in external debt servicing costs, influenced by rising global interest rates and commodity prices. These financial constraints posed a significant risk to public health systems at a time when increased investment was most urgently required.Intergovernmental organisations (IGOs) are key actors in the spread of ideas, relying on their widely held legitimacy to influence policymakers around the world through a combination of coercion and persuasion. They devise rules and norms on issues as diverse as economic policy, health security, and environmental protection. Given the profound influence IGOs have on domestic policy decisions, the ideas these bodies represent are at the centre of current policy debates. Nonetheless, despite persistent academic attention, the avenues through which ideas travel from IGOs to domestic policymakers remain insufficiently understood. How do these ideas diffuse, where and when are these ideas implemented, and why do ideas become embedded in some countries but not others?
This project will be among the first to systematically examine the activities of IGO technical assistance missions. The three core research questions are:
1. Why do IGOs provide technical assistance?
2. How does IGO technical assistance spread ideas to domestic officials?
3. What effect does IGO technical assistance have on domestic policy?
To answer these questions, this project draws on recent theoretical advances in international relations and policy studies.
The focus of the empirical research will be the IGO underpinning the world economic order: the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a central hub of knowledge on issues of key concern to developing countries, like fiscal and financial sector policies. The IMF presents a 'strategic research site', offering a unique analytical lens into the spread of policy norms to countries across the globe. The centrality of the organisation in global economic governance makes it a prime candidate for developing theoretical contributions that will be relevant to scholars across the social sciences.
The analysis will scrutinise the inner workings of IMF technical assistance activities, which account for one-quarter of the organisation's operating budget and is provided free-of-charge to requesting member countries. To study this phenomenon, the project will create a dataset of IMF technical assistance that systematizes information on all activities between 1990 and 2019, to be analysed using advanced quantitative methods. The project will also generate in-depth case studies of two frequent recipients of technical assistance-Kenya and Rwanda-by employing qualitative analyses of interviews with domestic officials and IMF staff. The research findings will contribute to academic debates on the diffusion of policy ideas by IGOs, and to policy debates on how to reform global governance.
What is at stake? IGOs typically court controversy because of the more conspicuous formal compliance mechanisms at their disposal-like the policy reforms governments must implement to obtain access to loans from international financial institutions. But profound influence is also exerted quietly in the background in providing domestic policymakers with routine technical assistance. These commonplace acts of persuasion are hidden from public scrutiny, and global governance institutions have been unaccountable for them. Consequently, this project aspires to lay the foundations for evidence-based policy debates on how IGOs provide technical assistance in order to increase public oversight and accountability for their actions.
The project is designed with a view to maximise impact for three groups of beneficiaries: academics, policymakers, and civil society. To effectively reach academic beneficiaries, the project will rely on academic articles, a book, conference organisation and attendance, and a reading group. To achieve non-academic impact, the project will rely on policy briefs, an interactive website, and pieces in popular media. To meet these objectives, the project will also draw on its Expert Advisory Board, and the institutional support of Royal Holloway's Department of Politics and International Relations.</p
Fictional Representations of Self-Harm: Semi-structured Interviews, 2019-2020
No full textThis data was collected as part of a study exploring fictional representations of self-harm, and the way these representations were experienced and understood by people who have self-harmed. For the purposes of this study self-harm was defined as “an act, normally a repeated, habitual act, which in some way causes direct harm to the body but one where the focus and purpose of the act is this harm itself and not some other goal".
The study responded to a tendency within research and commentary to assume or estimate the effects, benefits, or harms of fictional representation, and to prioritise the perspective of people who do not self-harm in interpreting its fictional representation. It also explored the significance of fiction in shaping personal understandings of self-harm, and public or social conversations around self-harm.
To do this, the study involved semi-structured qualitative interviews with people with experience of self-harm within the UK. The interviews discussed what fictional representations of self-harm participants had encountered, what they felt and thought about those depictions and how they had impacted them, and what sorts of depictions of self-harm they would like to see. They also discussed fictional representations that in some way seemed reminiscent of self-harm, without actually depicting it. Participants were also asked whether and how they talked about representations of self-harm with friends and family.
Participants discussed wide ranging topics, including instances where they felt that they identified with self-harming characters in ways that were very meaningful, instances where self-harm was poorly or stereotypically represented and used for shock valour, and dominant trends within fictional representations such the tendency for self-harming characters to recover by the end.Self-harm is not frequently represented in books, TV, and films. It is possible that this may impact the way people talk about self-harm and how people seek help or support. The project aims to explore what representations are currently available to individuals who self-harm. It also examines how individuals who self-harm feel these representations impact the way they understand their own experiences and the way they discuss them with others. The project consists of an interview study and subsequent analysis by the researcher of fictional texts.</p
Hospitality Connect: The Role of Local Hospitality Businesses in Connecting Lives and Building Communities, 2022-2023
No full textThe pandemic has had a notable impact on the physical, mental and social health of older adults (Age UK., 2021), a group who were disproportionately affected by social distancing measures (Pantaris et al., 2020). This has coincided with an unprecedented financial shock to the hospitality sector (Hutton et al., 2022), with government figures suggesting this industry shrank by more than 40% in 2020 relative to 2019. This project helps support social connections and ‘build back better’ by focusing on a group (older adults) and sector (hospitality) who were both disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
Cafes and pubs are venues for sociality and companionship, often perceived as connecting individuals and groups in beneficial ways (Rosenbaum et al., 2007; Dunbar, 2016). This research aims to develop our understanding of current and potential opportunities for the hospitality business to play an influential role in supporting social connections. This project takes a qualitative approach, conducting go-along interviews with older adults (aged 65+), hospitality businesses and policy influencers to investigate how engagement with hospitality services could help older adults from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds become more socially connected.The contribution of older people to the economy and society, through volunteering, caregiving activities, engagement in formal employment past retirement as well as consumers and entrepreneurs, is considerable. Yet ageing is an opportunity that business and industry have still to realise. The overall aim of the Industrial Strategy is to improve innovation and productivity. In doing so we need to consider the role of older people in making this a reality. It also seeks to improve wellbeing contributing to 5 extra years of healthy independent life by 2035 and to narrow the gap between the richest and poorest.
To achieve this, as Research Director, Professor Judith Phillips will lead and manage a Social, Behavioural and Design Research programme of interdisciplinary research which seeks to provide an evidence base and platform for innovation through a suite of research projects, knowledge exchange activity and capacity building. Older people will be at the heart of this research programme co-producing and working alongside academic, business and industry stakeholders, policy and practice communities to shape, conduct and create impact from the programme. The Research Director will create a vibrant environment for researchers and stakeholders from a wide variety of disciplines and environments where ideas, new and novel thinking and innovation can be explored around inclusive design (e.g. environments, services and product design); behavioural change; organisational change; and the life course (e.g. intergenerational and life transitions). Activities will be drawn together through shared learning across projects in the programme with regular meetings and opportunities to shape the research culture which is interdisciplinary, challenge-driven and impactful. The flagship programme of research will showcase how arts, humanities and social sciences are central contributors to the Industrial Strategy and the Healthy Ageing portfolio.
As a champion of the Healthy Ageing Challenge, Professor Phillips will ensure the project outputs from the programme reach a wide range of end users through strategies for communication, public and business engagement. These will translate the research in the programme to business, public and third sectors drawing on existing influential and new networks and a range of media to ensure impact thus realising the ambitions of the Industrial Strategy. The Research Director will be a key contact point and thought leader for the Healthy Ageing challenge, working with partners from the housing and construction sector, retail, media and third sector amongst others. Examples include Housing LIN, the Association of Convenience Stores and Age UK. Particular emphasis will be on the importance of place and the role of devolved government in realising the research programme and the Healthy Ageing Challenge. Links will be built with other Industrial Strategy challenge areas such as the future of mobility and clean growth as well as challenge fund areas such as the audience of the future and with similar initiatives both across the UK and internationally. The Research Director will also focus on the sustainability of the Healthy Ageing Challenge with an emphasis on building capacity amongst early career and new researchers to ageing, drawing researchers into the programme from underrepresented disciplines and through the development of a roadmap for future research in Healthy Ageing.</p