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People-centred ai adoption in resource-constrained new firms: a qualitative study of human-technology integration
No full textNo description supplied</p
Policy challenges in the provision of COVID-19 border screening: evidence from eight countries
No full textBackground: While border screening measures were widely adopted by countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, a lack of consensus on the utility of border screening created a gap in best practice for its implementation. As such, countries adopted a diversity of approaches, providing an opportunity to the configuration and evolution of border screening systems. The article addresses three questions: (i) how did countries configure their border screening systems for COVID-19? (ii) In what contexts did countries rely on public or private providers of these services? (iii) what do policies and narratives reveal about the perceived role of border screening in global public health? The article contributes to long-standing debates over the private sector’s role in public health and the perceived value of border screening measures. Methods: This article presents results from an international comparative study based on tracking the organisation of border screening in eight countries. Secondary data was collected between July 2021 – June 2022 from official government websites and policy publications, private sector sources where relevant, and trusted media sources in each study country. The countries included are Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Results: All study countries used private provision for pre-departure diagnostic testing for international travellers. In contrast, screening of arriving travellers was more diverse. Countries that opted for private sector post-arrival screening saw governance challenges around accreditation and monitoring of providers, while public service provision saw challenges in capacity and high resource costs. Travel was often framed as a ‘luxury,’ allowing states to shift responsibility for obtaining tests onto individuals; especially in the context of individuals travelling from low income to high income countries. Conclusions: The different approaches countries followed for screening of departing and incoming travellers suggests wealthy countries were more oriented towards defending their populations against disease importation, rather protecting the international community from disease exportation. These findings provide an opportunity to reflect on the purpose and implementation of border screening. We emphasise a need for further discussion on the efficacy of border screening from both perspectives, given the tendency for countries to rely on these measures.</p
Inhabiting the frontier: gender, identity, and the politics of inheritance in Italian American women’s life writing
No full textEMBARGOED - expected end date 05.03.2028</p
Enhanced Theory of Change - Mature Students Learning Community Intervention
No full textNo description supplied</p
‘Decision-support’ tools for the assessment of co-benefits: Insights from energy and climate policy in the United Kingdom
No full textAssessing climate change mitigation's wider benefits can strengthen the investment case for energy demand policies and support the integration of demand-side actions across policy sectors and governance levels. This highlights the need for new policy appraisal frameworks that create a more level playing field for assessing energy supply- and demand-side measures. One way to address these challenges is through the use of frameworks that evidence energy policies' wider socio-economic and environmental benefits, or ‘co-benefits’. This paper examines the motivations, roles, and institutional contexts for the development and adoption of new co-benefit assessment frameworks in the United Kingdom (UK). A methodological review of 28 frameworks and 27 expert interviews were conducted to examine the use of co-benefit assessments to appraise net-zero pathways, sub-national policies, and procurement decisions' social value. Through the lens of policy entrepreneurship, this analysis shows how actors (such as framework developers, academics, and policy officers) are helping to address governance challenges faced by energy demand policies through using co-benefit assessments to link climate action to higher-level policy missions. Key motivations for the adoption of these frameworks include their potential to foster cross-sectoral and multi-level policy alignment, help navigate trade-offs, and support a fairer assessment of low-energy pathways. Key roles these frameworks play in enhancing governance include embedding holistic thinking, providing relevant support throughout the policy process, and encouraging a shared ownership of climate action. The paper concludes by discussing future developments and the analysis' policy implications for the choice and feasibility of future energy pathways.</p
Women’s participation in a disease management intervention for podoconiosis in northern Rwanda: understanding the context of women’s lives
No full textBackgroundPodoconiosis is a Neglected Tropical Disease which leads to foot and leg swelling (lymphoedema) and, ultimately, severe disability. People suffering from podoconiosis often cannot continue their economic or social roles for prolonged periods of time and experience stigmatisation. Research points towards women being more affected by podoconiosis and podoconiosis disease management interventions being less effective for women. Women’s participation in a podoconiosis disease management intervention in northern Rwanda was the focus of this study. The benefits women experienced when taking part in the intervention, and the challenges they faced when trying to follow intervention advice were explored.MethodsThis study is based on a focused ethnography which applied several qualitative research methods, including in-depth and key informant interviews, focus group discussions, transect walks, and observations. Women’s experiences with participating in a disease management intervention for podoconiosis in northern Rwanda were analysed through the lens of structural violence.ResultsOur findings demonstrate that while the disease management intervention provided significant benefits to women suffering from podoconiosis, five, often intersecting, contextual domains made it difficult for them to participate optimally. These domains were - the cultural construction of podoconiosis, geographical conditions, personal situations, resource challenges, and intervention implementation limitations. Gender emerged as a cross-cutting factor across all these domains. Women’s precarious lives and power imbalances between the women and the intervention provider impacted women’s ability to optimally engage with the disease management intervention for podoconiosis.ConclusionsThe context of women’s lives crucially impacted their ability to participate in a podoconiosis disease management intervention as intended. The differing needs and challenges of women affected by podoconiosis should be considered when designing and delivering health interventions to achieve more equitable health outcomes.</p
Legacy imprints and categorization shifts: how interpretations of job demands and resources change in abrupt transitions to virtual work
No full textWhat happens when workers experience abrupt transitions to virtual working? Drawing on
interviews with employees who were unexpectedly shifted to virtual work overnight, we show
that people carry legacy imprints: expectations from face-to-face settings that shape how they
initially classify job features as demands or resources. When lived experience in the virtual
context contradicts these expectations (e.g. online social gatherings feel exhausting; proximity
to family while working proves energizing), workers reclassify job characteristics. We show
that expectation-experience mismatch explains this categorisation shift at the individual level.
On the contrary, when expectations are confirmed (or cognitive overload crowds out reflection)
reclassification does not occur. We recast demands/resources as interpretive and dynamic
during abrupt transitions rather than fixed attributes, offering an extension to Job-Demands
Resources theory. We discuss implications for supporting employee well-being through sudden
change and turbulent contexts, including designing short feedback loops for reflection and
avoiding static assumptions about what counts as a demand or a resource.</p