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Knowledge is an important aspect of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy
Get PDFVaccine hesitancy was an ongoing issue during the COVID-19 pandemic. We recruited 620 adults for an online questionnaire to assess the influence of various factors on vaccine hesitancy. Five pre-existing scales were used to measure vaccine knowledge, attitudes to doctors and medicine, vaccine conspiracy belief, perception of COVID-19 as a threat, and vaccine hesitancy. We found that low vaccine knowledge was the strongest predictor for hesitancy. We also collected information about age, gender and vaccine status (fully vaccinated, with or without booster, partially vaccinated, not vaccinated). There were no age or gender effects, but we found significant trends between vaccination status and knowledge, attitudes, conspiracy belief, and hesitancy
Dramaturgy for the play "Infamous" written by April de Angelis
No full textI acted as Dramaturg for April de Angelis's play "Infamous", performed at Jermyn Street Theatre, London in September 2023, and published by Faber and Faber, 2023.
April de Angelis is the writer of the play. I am credited in the published text as the dramaturg.
See theatre listing: https://www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk/show/infamous/
See publication link:
https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571387106-infamous
Using a research-based approach to improve organisational performance in Knowledge Exchange: an appreciative inquiry
Get PDFThe purpose of this research project was to enhance organisational performance in Knowledge Exchange, through a cultural change to a UK Higher Education Institution; the University of West London (UWL). Arising from being both a work-based project intended to have a transformative effect on the organisation and doctoral level research, an Action Research (AR) approach was taken to integrate the business and research aims. The research was designed to address four challenges identified from literature, by: building on and with the prevailing UWL culture; taking a collaborative approach to embed cultural change; harnessing individual academic autonomy and choice; and including appropriate measures to understand causal links between culture change, entrepreneurial orientation, and performance. These four challenges were addressed through using Appreciative Inquiry (AI) as the form of AR. Phase One of the research identified ways in which UWL could increase its entrepreneurial orientation and encourage academic staff to engage with Knowledge Exchange (KE). Phase Two focussed on delivery of activities linked to four priority themes that arose from the Phase One research: KE Strategy, KE Support, KE Recognition, and KE Reward. This approach built on the prevailing culture by drawing appreciative views of what was working within UWL. Using Appreciative Inquiry meant the approach taken was deliberately collaborative, and activities sought to identify approaches to building and harnessing individual academic autonomy and choice, as well as providing a vehicle for engagement. To enhance evaluation, a collaboratively-developed set of measures were articulated within a theory-of-change framework, to capture and evaluate the outputs, outcomes, and any consequential direct and indirect impacts on UWL performance. Based on a review of whether the project met its business, research, and integrative aims, conclusions and reflections have produced recommendations for both research and UWL practice.
The project generated new understanding that could contribute to the body of knowledge, such as: the relatively novel application of a theory-of-change to enhance Appreciative Inquiry; understanding of practicing AR online; using the Culture web model as a tool for measurement of change; understanding HEI performance, and in particular establishing a set of performance metrics for KE; and that KE could be a basis for competitive comparison in the HE-sector. The research also reinforced previous findings, such as: the criticism of AI being very design-focussed; recognising the role of academic autonomy in order to facilitate engagement in KE; the challenges of evidencing a link between entrepreneurial orientation and performance; and that the entrepreneurial orientation model was descriptive rather than predictive. A key outcome of this project was that it directly led to both development of new ways of managing and measuring KE at UWL. While there were improvements both in terms of historic UWL performance and compared to the HE-sector, this was not clearly driven by this project. However, this research surfaced evidence that an entrepreneurial orientation sat behind this performance. Some limited evidence was found of an increase in the importance of KE, alongside the traditional cultural importance of Enterprise. The act of explicitly measuring KE performance was mainstreamed within UWL’s KE Strategy and associated KPIs, an approach which came directly from this project. Additionally, much of the KE Strategy’s Implementation Plan arose from this research. Over the timespan of this project KE became increasingly recognised as being of importance, albeit not yet prioritised within UWL culture. Therefore, importantly, there remained potential for longer-term impact to arise from this project
The effects of normal ageing and processing style on explicit and implicit memory
Get PDFExplicit memory (e.g. recognition) declines with age, but there is disagreement about whether implicit memory (e.g. priming) declines or remains intact with age. Processing style is one primary factor that may explain this discrepancy: there is evidence that ageing does not affect conceptual (meaning-based) and perceptual (feature-based) processing equally, yet processing demands have varied in prior studies. The aim of this thesis is to understand how the type of cognitive processing affects the magnitude of age effects on implicit memory. Five experiments were conducted (four online and one lab-based) to compare the performance of young (18-30 years) and older (+65 years) adults on a range of implicit tests while varying conceptual /perceptual processing at encoding (Experiments 1A, 1B and 2), and both encoding and test (Experiments 3-4). In Experiments 1A and 1B a perceptual implicit memory task (Continuous Identification Task with Recognition; CID-R) was used, while in Experiment 2 a conceptual implicit task (Category Exemplar Generation; CEG) was used, and a recognition task was also included to assess explicit memory. In Experiment 3 both conceptual and perceptual tasks were used in a within-subjects design, and the conceptual implicit task was changed to Category Verification with Recognition (CV-R). Experiment 4 replicated Experiment 3 but was performed in person after COVID-19 restrictions ended.
The results showed an age-related decline in explicit memory in all experiments except Experiment 3, and the key finding in relation to implicit memory is that age differences were affected by the type of processing. In most cases, priming was reduced by age when items were encoded conceptually and the test phase involved perceptual processing. These new findings challenge the widely held view that implicit memory remains stable with age and suggest that age differences in implicit memory are mediated by the type of processing at encoding and test
An exploration of the experience of women with mental and physical health issues
Get PDFAim: To explore the experience of physical health issues in women with mental distress, in order to support best practice and improved care.
Rationale: Attempts to improve the physical health care of people with mental health difficulties are ongoing, with women’s experiences within this field frequently overlooked and underserved. The study’s focus is gender-specific in order to better understand women’s experiences and to contribute to improved practice in this area.
Objectives:
- To understand if and when women with mental health issues seek help for their physical health concerns
- To explore what their experience of accessing and receiving support for those physical health needs are.
Methodology: This is phenomenological research shaped by a service user advisory panel and working from a feminist, activist standpoint using coproduced focus groups and an online survey disseminated via social media to facilitate open participation.
Conclusions: The knowledge jointly created from this coproduced project demonstrates that women from marginalised communities are able to come together to voice their concerns and demonstrate their strength in challenging orthodox thinking around complex practice issues
Recommendations: More self-referral pathways are needed to a broader range of primary care health staff. Radical innovation is required around the processes for raising concerns and supporting women’s health. Lastly service users need to commission projects that meet their needs and requirements and research bodies should reward innovation in coproduction and activist work
Observing migrant children: shifting the frame from linguistic deficit to display of agency
Get PDFWhen discussing inclusion of migrant children, mainstream pedagogical literature suggests that improvement of language competence (bilingual education) should be prioritised (Karoly and Gonzales 2011; Harris and Kaur 2012; Burger 2013; Devine, 2013, Baraldi, 2014). Limited language knowledge is claimed to impact migrant children’s participation in interactions with adults and peers. We challenge this prevailing discourse about migrant children through second order observation (Glaserfeld, 1987; Luhmann, 1995), that is, the observation of observations through innovative educational practices in multilingual settings. The analysis of video-recorded interactions involving children and teachers at an Italian Scuola dell’infanzia, influenced by the Reggio Emilia Approach, was ethically and methodologically committed to positioning all children as competent agents. This approach allowed a shift in the frame of teachers’ observation, from linguistic competence to participation in communication, and a shift in expectations from migrant children as deficient to a recognition and promotion of their agency. This chapter focuses on two interrelated aspects of the video-recorded interactions to argue that teachers’ and children’s modes of designing their turns to talk may promote shared personal expressions of ideas, emotions, and experiences, accessing the agentic status of authors of knowledg
How to become an academic, and alienate people: the working-class academic
No full text“She’ s still at school”. This is how my brother described me to my nephew, when the little boy asked what I did as a job. I was in the last year of my PhD.
“You’re a teacher, right?” My aunt, this time, three years into my first academic role at a UK University.
“You’re still writing essays?” My mother, incredulous, last month when I attempted to describe putting the finishing touches to a chapter I was writing for a book.
I am the working-class academic. Well, I was. Not so, anymore. I’ve been assimilated. I’ve learnt the lingo, I wear the clothes, I’ve changed my accent, and snuck my way into the ivory tower. For a tower it is, and I’m not good with stairs.
This chapter combines autoethnography, ethnographic fiction, and a sprinkling of ‘real’ academic research to present my academic career identity-trajectory. I draw upon my upbringing in a working-class family, my clumsy attempts to negotiate learning what it means to be ‘an academic’, and my identity ‘crisis’ in becoming an academic with a PhD in Art History and Theory working within a Business School
Comparative analysis of the UK, Russian, and Turkish soft power in the education sector of the Kyrgyz Republic from 2000 to 2021
No full textCentral Asia has been a geopolitical hotspot for centuries, with Britain and Russia engaging in a rivalry known as the 'Great Game' during the 19th and early 20th centuries. This region's strategic location and abundant resources make it a prime location for geopolitical interests, with former Soviet republics offering access to the Black and Caspian Seas. Today, competition extends beyond military and political affairs, including economic interactions, cultural exchanges, and humanitarian cooperation. Major players like the USA, China, and Turkey are now involved in this rivalry. However, scholars and policymakers recognize the need for a shift in diplomatic approaches and international relations in light of the changing political landscape in the 2000s. They have been exploring the concept of soft power to attract and persuade others to serve the region's interests. This research delves into the concept of soft power in Kyrgyzstan, a small republic caught in the crossfire of the 'New Great Game' among major powers. Despite its size, Kyrgyzstan has actively pursued a multi-vector policy and has not been passive in the power struggle between major countries. The study uses the Gramscian theory of cultural hegemony to analyse the soft power exerted by Russia, Britain, and Turkey towards Kyrgyzstan from 2000 to 2021, focusing on their financial and institutional investments. The research tests the hypothesis that despite increasing Turkish and British investment, Russia remains dominant in Kyrgyzstan's educational sector due to historical, economic, and political factors. Additionally, Russia's influence in the country is expected to remain strong due to the Soviet legacy, which created a closer integration process between Kyrgyzstan and Russia than with other states outside the region. One of the significant sources of integration is labour migrants, where the Republic received more financial assistance than the total official aid from regional donors
Understanding the role of learning communities of practice within a degree apprenticeship to enhance inclusive engagement
Get PDFPurpose
Building on the concepts of learning communities of practice, the paper evaluates their application within degree apprenticeships (DAs) to support pedagogic engagement and inclusive education within a university setting.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study of an existing B2B sales degree apprenticeship reviewed relevant programme documents and evaluated apprentice learner experience through an anonymised online survey.
Findings
The study found that sales apprentices had a reflexive awareness of how learning communities operated within this context and raised some valuable insights about their perceptions of inclusive education. These communities have differing dynamics that value engaging with workplace professionals, peers and university. Apprentices prefer tuition that accommodates their shared interests as employee learners within an occupational role. Issues surrounding inclusive education are seen as integral to the experience of being an apprentice.
Originality
This research indicates that B2B sales degree apprentices see themselves as operating within distinctive learning communities of practice that support their work-integrated (WIL) studies in higher education. The paper recommends programme teams provide more collaborative engagement within learning communities to support inclusive education goals.
Practical implications
Post-Covid engagement could be used to frame more effective social learning for work-integrated practice and programme teams could advocate for a greater integration of DAs within institutional settings
Neural text generators in enterprise modeling: can ChatGPT be used as proxy domain expert?
Get PDFEnterprise modeling is concerned with the systematic development of a comprehensive and holistic representation of an enterprise (an enterprise model) to support organisational initiatives. Domain experts have an essential role in enterprise modeling projects (EM), as they provide the required domain knowledge or specifics of the organisation under consideration. The paper investigates if neural text generators (large language models) can reduce the dependency on domain experts for certain tasks in enterprise modeling. The main contributions of this paper are (1) a systematic literature analysis on neural text generator use in EM, (2) the identification of potential for applying large language models in EM, and (3) findings from quasi-experiments comparing output of ChatGPT and domain experts for the same EM task