36633 research outputs found
Sort by
Reflections of euphoria within festival lights
No full textThis paper analyses the role of euphoria as experienced through moments of ‘glimmer’ within light festivals. Drawing on two light festivals—one in Bexhill-on-Sea, Southeast England, and the other at the University of East London—the research examines how euphoria creates opportunities for light festivals to move beyond passive consumption by offering communities opportunities for active engagement, participation, and production. The paper begins by exploring the concepts of euphoria and glimmer, providing a theoretical framework for understanding their role in light festivals, both as concepts and as lived experiences. This is followed by a brief introduction to light festivals, along with a detailed account of the ‘After Dark’ festivals. An action-research methodology is employed, incorporating researcher–practitioner reflection and the analysis of multiple data sources, including photographic and documentary records, field observations, and festival reviews. Through this process, moments of euphoria and glimmer within the ‘After Dark’ festivals are identified and discussed. The findings are organised around three themes: Programming Moments of Euphoria; Participation, Place and Euphoria; and Euphoria and Opportunities for Inclusivity. The first theme highlights the vital role euphoria plays in breaking down barriers and creating atmosphere by encouraging people to pause and engage. The second examines how euphoria and glimmer help animate space and foster a sense of belonging within festival contexts. Lastly, the third theme explores how these moments can be harnessed to create inclusive outreach opportunities. This research contributes to the field by using the lens of euphoria to understand and evaluate the programming of light festivals, advocating for approaches that move beyond passive consumption. It emphasises the importance of active community engagement and the role of euphoric and glimmer moments in shaping inclusive, dynamic spaces. The paper concludes by recommending that festival programmers intentionally identify and plan for moments designed to deliver inclusive, community-based euphoric experiences
Inclusive Environmental Stewardship:Adaptation, Recovery and Access
No full textThis written evidence submission explores how UK climate adaptation and environmental renewal policies could better embed inclusion, accessibility, and equality under the Equality Act 2010. It highlights systemic barriers faced by disabled people, older adults, and marginalised communities in accessing blue and green spaces, and offers recommendations to ensure environmental resilience strategies also deliver social justice. The evidence draws on research from Accessible Waters and calls for joined-up action across DEFRA, DLUHC, and DHSC
Collectarium lockdown space:sharing viral domestic transformations
No full textThe collaborative research project, Collectarium Lockdown Space began during the Covid pandemic in 2021. At this time, we had to radically alter the way we lived to protect ourselves from this life-threatening virus. For so many at this time, public and private space was collapsed into that of the home, with quotidian domestic space under intense pressure to also become space for people to work, socialise, exercise, learn, create, entertain, play, celebrate and escape. The project was devised to collect and record this significant shift in the demands placed on domestic space. Collectarium (Allyson Waller and Sophie Beard) with Peter Maloney used Instagram to invite people to submit posts to show how they had adapted, transformed and expanded their domestic environment during this time to meet their individual and collective everyday needs. This paper and presentation will evidence specific examples of the innovative spatial transformations and behavioural adaptations that took place through the submitted Instagram posts. It will show how, for many, the home simultaneously functioned as the office, the gym, the school, the artists’ and designer’s studio, the pub, the club, the campsite, the restaurant, the beach and spaces of the imaginary as well as the more traditional space of privacy and security. We will discuss how subsequent analysis of the collection revealed new typologies of domestic ritual and spatial design during this time. Despite the fear, anxiety and despair that accompany the memory of this time for so many, the collection will reveal the positive, determined and joyful approaches taken to survive and thrive through urgent adaptations to our domestic space. We will speculate how these have begun to shape the demands of our future domestic space. We will show how examples from the collection were reactivated and re-imagined as site-specific participatory installations for the Now Play This festival in 2024 which explored liminality and play at Somerset House, London and we will preview the forthcoming publication
Effect of Twisted Tapes on Swirling Flow Dynamics in Gas–Solid Two-Phase Flows for Natural Gas Hydrate Transportation
No full textThe discrete phase model (DPM) and the RNG k-ε turbulence model were employed to simulate the swirl flow behavior of hydrate transport in pipelines equipped with twisted tapes. The study analyzed the effects of various twisted tape parameters on the velocity field, turbulent dissipation, turbulent kinetic energy, and pressure distribution of hydrate particles. The results indicate that increasing the placement angle of the twisted tape enhances the tangential velocity near the pipe axis while reducing the axial velocity. Similarly, higher twisted tape configurations result in a further decrease in axial velocity. An increase in the number of twisted tapes leads to reductions in both tangential and axial velocities, and maximum speed increased by 18.2%. Larger placement angles of twisted tapes also intensify turbulence dissipation, with a more pronounced decay in turbulence intensity observed from the pipe wall to the axis. At section 8D, the turbulent kinetic energy increases by 60% with the increase in the height of the twisted tapes. Furthermore, as the number of twisted tapes increases, the disparity in turbulence strength between regions near the twisted tape and the pipe axis diminishes. The inner pipe pressure distribution is 360°/n rotation symmetrical distribution, and the twist tape is more, and the high pressure area is greater on the pipe section. The minimum pressure area is gradually close from the lee plane of the diversion strip to the position of the pipe axis. At section 65D, the pressure drop increases gradually with the increase in the orientation angle, and it increases by 36.8%.</p
“Presentable for the outside world”:Social class, cultural capital and body image amongst White working-class women in the United Kingdom
Get PDFWomen's body image is influenced by sociocultural factors. Given that social class shapes people's sociocultural environments and socialisation experiences, little is known about how social class influences women's body image. Moreover, given that existing body image literature tends to recruit early adult middle-class populations, working-class women's body image experiences remain underrepresented in appearance research. The current study aims to broaden the understanding of women's body image by examining how working-class women in early adulthood make sense of their bodies and appearance using an interpretative phenomenological approach. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 cisgender, heterosexual, White working-class women (21–35 years old) in the United Kingdom. Our findings highlight how theWhite working-class women in our sample were passively situated in positions where they lacked choice and control over the events that take place in their lives (Superordinate Theme 1). Within these contexts, they made sense of the importance of adhering to group norms to avoid social penalties (via appearance; Superordinate Theme 2), and viewed appearance as a form of capital that garners intrinsic gains and extrinsic benefits (Superordinate Theme 3). Our findings reflect the uniqueness of our sample of younger working-class women's body image experiences and highlight the importance of emic research in giving voice to underrepresented populations.</p
Fear during crises:the roles of perceived risk, appraisal support and identity resilience
Get PDFEmotions, such as fear, are important determinants of people’s responses to crises. Fear can be functional or dysfunctional. There is limited research into the influences determining fear levels during crises. This study examines the extent to which variance in fear levels can be accounted for by perceived risk, perceived appraisal support, identity resilience, and perceived job insecurity. Cross-sectional correlational survey data were collected from 294 adults in the United Kingdom during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in July 2020. Structural equation modelling showed a direct positive effect of perceived risk of COVID-19 on COVID-19 fear and an indirect effect through perceived job insecurity. There was no direct effect of perceived appraisal support upon COVID-19 fear but there were indirect effects: perceived appraisal support was negatively associated with perceived job insecurity which in turn was positively associated with COVID-19 fear; and perceived appraisal support was positively associated with identity resilience which in turn was negatively associated with COVID-19 fear. Women reported higher perceived appraisal support than men. The current study indicates that to model the antecedents of fear in public crises it is useful, in addition to socio-demographics, to build in perceived risk and corollaries of the original hazard (e.g., perceived job insecurity), identity processes, and access to interpersonal support
‘In it for Myself’: Liberal Morality in Neoliberal Times.
No full textDrawing on Wendy Brown’s account of neoliberalism as a political rationality, in this paper I argue that moral philosophy plays a crucial role in perpetuating precarity. According to Brown’s argument neoliberalism extends market values to all social actions, undermining the differentiation of moral and economic spheres previously found under liberal democracy. While Brown notes the shared ontological status of markets and morality aimed at individual freedom, neoliberalism is argued to radically subordinate the moral foundations of classical liberalism to economic rationality while championing market logics as the ultimate arbiter of value, shifting responsibility to individuals. I explore this argument through Adorno's critique of bourgeois coldness. With Adorno I argue that the normalisation of self-interest as a moral imperative leads to indifference towards the suffering of others. I contend that neoliberalism’s emphasis on flexibility and self-interest and moral philosophy’s disavowal of compassion fosters a culture of competition and insecurity in contemporary society. This contributes to a pervasive sense of coldness towards others, reinforcing indifference and underpinning precarity. However, in contrast to Brown, I argue that neoliberalism does not mark a rupture with a previous liberal order but is an extension of liberal morality that fosters a violent culture of self- interest
The ‘feltness’ of circus training:practitioner reflections on hypermobility, anxiety and neurodivergence
Get PDFAs an academic and cabaret circus performer/instructor, specialising in aerial circus and contortion, my lived experience of hypermobility, neurodivergence and anxiety directly affects how I feel about my circus training. It is fundamental to my wellbeing to train regularly, to help me regulate, to function in the world