12244 research outputs found
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Notes from the subsurface
No full text'Notes from the subsurface' interrogates deep subsurface environments and the extremophiles that live within them to consider how they can function at extreme depths and pressure within challenging conditions such as highly acidic, high temperature, high radiation, low oxygen and methane heavy environments. Through sci-fi narratives, the twelve minute film exposes non-human and multi-species perspectives, hidden networks and unheard voices. Beginning with bird-eye view footage of the Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies. The second part of the film takes a science fictional approach; as the narrators firstly develop proposals for adapting humans to live in these extreme conditions, , utilising a ‘Vision Space’ to adapt their perspectives and then employing designs for hybrid future lifeforms capable of living within these environments, with designs generated using an AI neural network
Oliver Cromwell and the secret arts of government
No full textThis lecture will look at state secrecy, espionage and other elements of the rules for governing that Cromwell used, or at least was accused of using in the politically turbulent period of the Protectorate (1653 – 8)
Everyday ecocide, toxic dwelling, and the inability to mourn: a speculative response to geographies of extinction
Get PDFIn responding to the spatiotemporally specific geographies of extinction charted in the articles in this special section, this article reflects on the sociocultural factors that inform the ways in which extinction is framed and impede recognition of the enormity of the anthropogenic extinction event in which we are all bound. This article argues that we are living in an era of ecocide, where the degradation of biodiversity and eradication of species go hand-in-hand with the degradation and eradication of nonmodern culture and identity, and it explores some possible reasons why modern society is failing to respond to impending crisis. Fine-grained stories of spatiotemporally specific geographies of extinction can help to counter the logic of colonization and bring everyday ecocide into view. For the particular multispecies communities they concern, they can also feed into the creation of ritual practices of penitential mourning in ways that enable a collective grieving process poised to activate an ecosocial transformation. The authors consider the implications of grief and mourning—and of not mourning—in what can be seen as not only a terrible time but also the end of (lived) time. They conclude with some reflections of local acts of resistance, witnessing, and narrative
What influences young doctors in their decision-making about general practice as a possible career? A qualitative study
Get PDFBackground:- Recruitment to General Practitioner (GP) training programmes in the United Kingdom is poor. Colleagues’ negative comments about general practice could contribute to this.
Aim:- To investigate what influences Foundation Year 2 (FY2) doctors in their decisions to choose general practice as a career, and how colleagues’ comments about GPs might affect those decisions.
Design and Setting:- A qualitative study in Southwest England.
Method:- Thematic analysis of interviews with FY2 doctors.
Results : Twenty-four doctors participated. They thought that GPs worked hard and had very varied clinical work. The effect on their career choice depended on their personalities. GP placement experiences significantly influenced their career intentions. The loneliness of working in general practice was a key concern. FY2 doctors thought colleagues’ criticisms of GPs did not reflect reality and were outdated. ‘Banter’ had little effect on career choices. Whichever specialty they were choosing, FY2s experienced support from colleagues in their career choices.
Conclusion:- Person-specialty fit and FY2 doctors’ experiences of GP work have a significant effect on career choices. Loneliness in their GP work placements is a particular problem that should be addressed. While colleagues’ derogatory comments about GPs may affect medical students’ views on their career choices, they appear to have little effect on the career decision-making of qualified doctors
The shapeless unease: a year of not sleeping
No full textSamantha Harvey’s insomnia arrived, seemingly, from nowhere; for a year she has spent her nights chasing sleep that rarely comes. She’s tried everything to appease it. Nothing is helping.
What happens when one of the basic human needs goes unmet? For Samantha Harvey, extreme sleep deprivation resulted in a raw clarity about life itself. Original and profound, The Shapeless Unease is a startlingly insightful exploration of memory, writing and influence, death and grief, and the will to survive
School-to-work transitions support: ‘cruel optimism’ for young people in ‘the state of insecurity'
Get PDFIn this paper, I argue that current arrangements for school-to-work transitions support in England, now school-based, are designed to contribute towards ensuring the consent of the population for what I refer to as the ‘state of insecurity’ (Lorey, 2015): the neoliberal relationship between the individual and the state in which insecurity is promoted as freedom. Based on an analysis of policy, the paper argues that the government careers strategy for young people aims to contribute to shaping the precarious subjects which inhabit the state of insecurity, by encouraging them to internalise neoliberal values around freedom and individualism which accompany governmental precarisation. Drawing also on the work of Judith Butler (2011), I suggest that throughout the careers strategy, neoliberalism functions as performative or hegemonic norm which is cited to constitute notions of ‘good’ or ‘normal’ labour market arrangements, aspirations and selves. I suggest that this strategy is an example of Berlant's (2011) ‘cruel optimism’, which constitutes a fantasy of a ‘good life’ which is in fact likely to be unattainable to many young people, especially the more disadvantaged
SCRUB [BathSPAdata collection]
No full textSCRUB is an ongoing research project by Caroline Harris, formerly Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for the BA Publishing (Combined) at Bath Spa University (September 2013 to August 2019) and currently an interdisciplinary creative practice PhD student in the English department at Royal Holloway, University of London. SCRUB investigates, through poetic practice, the relationship between humans, language and ‘scrub’ plants and ecologies.
Scrub is defined as a habitat dominated by shrubs or bushes, either forming the margin between grassland or heath and woodland, or in coastal locations. It is now recognised as ecologically valuable, but is also viewed as a threat: scrub encroaches, and its species can be ‘invasive’. Scrub is temporary and transitional. In built environments, scrub marks the ever-moving edge between the human-made and the other-than-human.
The poetic practice takes a site-specific approach, with the creative research outputs in this e-portfolio relating primarily to a residency with Singing Apple Press.
This multi-component output collection represents a limited edition artist’s bookwork, a limited edition hand-bound pamphlet of the poems, two series of cyanotype prints made with plants and text, letterpressed poem cards, details of two exhibitions and associated readings, and a workshop for the Hypatia Trust. These are given context by a 300-word statement, a research timeline, and key research questions
Repository
No full textThis sculpture investigates the materials used in the Swedish KBS design of copper canisters
proposed for burying roughly 21,500 spent fuel
assemblies from the Ignalina Nuclear Power
Plant. The bentonite clay would be used as a
buffer for the storage of this high level waste
deep in the geologic strata for a million years.
As a ceramics artist working with clay, Aimee
has been experimenting with the different
qualities of bentonite, and how it changes
in different environments over time, easily
dehydrating into solid flakes. At the CAC, the
circular surface of the top of a radioactive waste
canister echoes the hidden circular patterns
across the first floor of the building, reflecting
on the massive scale of the required storage
repository
‘Swimming against the tide’: character education and the importance of recognition
No full textTeaching children about ‘desirable’ traits is a nice idea but unlikely to succeed
"Once the pencil hits the paper, everything changes." An exploration of children's comic-making
No full textThis thesis presents an exploration of children's comic-making from within the discipline of education. Children's practices of making and sharing their own comics have received little academic study, and this thesis contributes new and detailed evidence on this subject. The study employs approaches from new materialism and posthumanism, in order to develop an understanding of the material and embodied, as well as the conceptual, aspects of comic-making. The research draws on the work of a number of theorists and philosophers, in particular the writings of theoretical physicist and feminist theorist Karen Barad, and the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari. The thesis is written from the perspective of situated knowledge/knowing in being, taking account of the academic's position and responsibilities within the world.
The thesis presents new evidence regarding the nature and scope of children's comic-making practices in the UK, and connects the study of children's comic-making to a number of related fields - including comics studies, research into children's drawing and children's art, the history of arts education in England, and non-hierarchical approaches to education. The research project draws on the work of cartoonist and academic Pat Grant, in particular his work on comics and performance, and artist and educator Brent Wilson, in particular his research into 'third site', non-hierarchical pedagogies.
The thesis consists of two stages of research, the first involving interviews with cartoonists and the second involving the documentation of children in the process of making comics. The two stages of research are connected, with the interviews being used to map the activities carried out in the second stage of research. After a preliminary analysis of the two stages of research, the two studies are brought into relation with one another, in order to examine the connections and changes created through the process of making comics. The thesis concludes with an exploration of the research questions (developed over the course of the research), suggesting new approaches to the study and documentation of children's comic-making, looking at non-hierarchical approaches to making art, and asking whether 'good encounters' can be created from making comics with children