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Beyond the 3 R’s ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’: a matterphorical eco-pedagogy project with a picturebook author, illustrator, teacher educator and a London primary school
No full textThis article describes a picturebook arts-based happening that came about spontaneously through an academic meeting the author of the picturebook Ammu’s Bottle Boat and the classteacher eco-lead of a Primary school linked with her university, and finding both to be inspiring champions of eco-pedagogy. Classteacher Andromachi, picturebook author Niveditha, illustrator Aindri and teacher educator Victoria then all met on zoom and planned sessions with the group of children who represent environmental matters for their class as school eco-ambassadors, reading and discussing the book, then making artwork in response to it. Bringing these perspectives together is not only highly unusual but significant in terms of a shared happening where a picturebook enacts this ecocritical nature, or nature-culture. Following Donna Haraway’s inseparability of nature-culture into ‘Natureculture’ (where collective eco-relationships are recognised as both biophysically and socially formed and thus closely associated) the author, illustrator, teacher, teacher-educator and children co-create in response to a picturebook’s ecocritical value. For Haraway, language and matter are also intertwined in ‘matterphorical’ ways, connecting physical, material and language elements together. For Gandorfer and Ayub, matterphorical practice is ‘an aesth-ethics of thought’ which ‘calls for an ethics of both sense-making and sensing in the making’. In this context, the art of the picturebook ‘shapes’ the associated practices of authorship, illustration, environmental education and teaching with ecopedagogies; combining sense-making and sensory learning as they interplay. The article will first set the context for eco-conscious education and various ways in which environmental research and ‘zero carbon’ schools have come together, introduce and explore the picturebook that features here by both its author and illustrator, and conclude with a teacher’s perspective of Green school practice using this picturebook in her primary school
Understanding Albanian culture of migration: the role of the family in precarious journeys and human trafficking
Get PDFThis article explores families’ roles in precarious journeys and human trafficking from Albania. It demonstrates that familial pressure is a primary driver of migration for many Albanians and sets the family at the centre of the Albanian culture of migration rather than as one of many other factors that can lead to precarious migration and trafficking. The decision to migrate is rarely an individual one; rather, it is often a collective decision where parents, siblings, and extended family members play a crucial role. This is particularly evident in cases where migration is seen as a means to escape poverty or improve social standing, with family members reinforcing the belief that success abroad is the only viable option. The article concludes with recommendations to enhance cultural competence among practitioners and integrate family-oriented considerations in migration policies and interventions, particularly in the United Kingdom
The sepsis journey and where digital alerts can help: a qualitative, interview study with survivors and family members in England
Get PDFIntroduction: The fight against sepsis is an ongoing healthcare challenge, where digital tools are increasingly used with some promising results. The experience of survivors and their family members can help optimize digital alerts for sepsis/deterioration. This study pairs the experiences of survivors of their sepsis journey and family members with their knowledge and views on the role of digital alerts.
Methods: A qualitative study with online, semi-structured interviews and focus groups with sepsis survivors and family members in England. Data were analyzed inductively using thematic analysis.
Results: We included 11 survivors, and 5 family members recruited via sepsis charities and other social media, for a total of 15 sepsis cases. Identified categories correspond to the three stages of the sepsis journey: 1. Pre-hospital, onset symptoms and help-seeking; 2. Hospital admission and stay; 3. Post-sepsis syndrome. The role of digital alerts at each stage of the sepsis journey is discussed. Participants’ experiences were varied, previous sepsis awareness scant, and knowledge of digital alerts minimal. However, participants were confident in the potential of alerts contributing along the sepsis journey. They perceived digital alerts as important in healthcare professionals’ decision-making to expedite identification and treatment of sepsis and suggested their expansion across healthcare services. Participants expressed that awareness should be increased among the general public about digital alerts for sepsis/deterioration.
Discussion: In light of sepsis’ insidious and variable manifestation, the involvement of patients and family members in the development of digital alerts is crucial to optimize their design and deployment towards improving outcomes. Digital alerts should enhance the connection across healthcare services as well as the care quality. They should also enhance the communication between patients and healthcare professionals.
Clinical trial registration: The ClinicalTrials.gov registration identifier for this study is NCT05741801; the protocol ID is 16347
Scenographic thinking is heterotopic. Possible scenography, heterotopia, and retracing an unruly archive: the intersection of design and scenography in the expert theatre practice of Fred Meller 2001-2018
Get PDFThis PhD by Public Works argues ‘scenographic thinking’ within design methodologies is heterotopic. Integrating embodied practice and process it presents a conceptual framework of ‘heterotopias’, expanding Michel Foucault’s premise, as a new and original contribution to the Theatre and Performance discipline, addressing the current gap in knowledge which exists at the intersections of theatre design and scenography in practice. In examining my process driven practice-as-research I isolate the concept of ‘scenographics’ and ‘scenographic thinking’ as central to my practice, where ‘scenography’ encompasses both a design practice and a discovery method and an investigative analysis of the potential of scenographics.
I draw on my personal archive of thirty years of theatre design scenographic practice and the works themselves as my significant original contribution to knowledge. I retrace the process of scenographic drawing as heterotopic thinking through the archive and in publications containing the works, the published plays, and museum study collections where works are held. Drawing on the work by Joanne Tompkins (20I4) I apply the Foucauldian lens of heterotopias to my practice. The work of Rachel Hann (2019, 2023), Joslin McKinney and Philip Butterworth (2015), Joslin McKinney and Scott Palmer (2017) and theories of theatre, scenography, and design related discourse (Lawson 2004, 2006, 2009; Cross 2023) elucidate the ideas and practices that my work builds on.
I advocate scenographic thinking, as defined by Platform Scenography (ten Bosch, Groot Nibbelink, Mann and Scholts (2013), as connected to thinking-drawing (Burnett 2014; Field 2021). I argue heterotopic scenographic thinking as the design practice for conceptualizing ‘possible scenography’ and for producing an assemblage that is called a set design. Whereupon the direction, lighting, and sound design join to craft the scenography – as ‘performance scenography’. Thinking scenographics is thinking about possible performance scenography.
This thesis activates scenographic thinking about past practice as strategies for making and reading scenography, as both provocation and a guide for other theatre practitioners, designers in other fields. A lens to read and curate theatre and theatre design and methods to retrace practice through scenographic thinking and design theories
The digital euro in the making - legal aspects of the Commission’s Single Currency Package
No full textDigitalization has become a pervasive phenomenon reshaping key sectors of society, including public administration, education, and healthcare. Its impact is particularly pronounced in the financial sector, where the emergence of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) has generated intense debate. While several countries, such as China and Sweden, have taken a pioneering role in testing and introducing CBDCs, the discussion has now gained momentum within the euro area. In this context, the European Central Bank has begun exploring the feasibility of a digital euro, and in June 2023 the European Commission presented a proposal for a Regulation on the establishment of the digital euro as part of the Single Currency Package. This article analyses the draft regulation and the other elements of the Single Currency Package, focusing on the legal issues involved. It argues, inter alia, that the EU has the competence to introduce a digital euro
Migration decision making and heterogeneities, infrastructures and trajectories of African migrations
No full textThis report examines migrant decision-making processes among African populations through a comparative, multi-sited qualitative study conducted in Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and diasporas in Italy and the UK. Drawing on 179 semi-structured interviews and 18 longitudinal digital diaries collected between 2023 and 2024, it reveals migration aspirations, planning and trajectories as iterative and contextually contingent, rather than linear or predetermined.
Analysis demonstrates significant heterogeneity in decision-making stages - from non-migration and aspiration to preparation, transit, settlement, and return - with participants frequently oscillating between these positions amid evolving personal circumstances, social networks and structural constraints. Legal statuses varied widely, encompassing internal migrants, regional movers, refugees, long-term European residents, returnees, and users of regular/irregular pathways.
Coding of transcripts employed a collaborative, multi-researcher approach across country teams, yielding node memos that facilitated cross-national thematic synthesis and minimized bias through generous, overlapping application at the paragraph level. Digital diaries captured temporal dynamics over six months, highlighting shifts in strategies influenced by uncertainty, waiting, and real-time information flows via WhatsApp and social media.
Findings disrupt traditional push-pull models by foregrounding non-linear temporalities and the interplay of formal (e.g., NGOs, agencies) and informal infrastructures (e.g., kin, brokers, peers). This underscores the need for migration policies attuned to diverse African-European corridors, emphasizing empirical complexity over simplified dichotomies
Understanding differences in imagined and actual experiences in tourism
No full textThis research note tests a framework capturing the tourist imagined-experienced gap, understood as the difference between tourists’ imagined experiences versus their actual experiences. Data were drawn on two independent studies (n1=20, n2=17) comprising a series of open-ended questions. Nine experiential realms (five senses, feel, think, act, and relate) were identified in this qualitative research, as well as gaps for each realm. The validated framework offers new insights on image modification as a result of visitation, by delineating potential gaps rooted in various experiential realms. Results could help refine destination and visitor attraction marketing strategies as well as assist in tourism product development
Transformative workshops empowering international postgraduate students
Get PDFThis is a report on a series of workshops organised by the Centre for Mathematics & Statistics Teaching and Learning (CeMaSTeL) in 2024 at Middlesex University Mauritius. Workshop series form an integral part of CeMaSTeL activities and have evolved to include opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration among Middlesex University campuses (UK and Mauritius). The four principles of the university’s strategy 2031 are exemplified by carefully designing the workshop themes and delivery
The Jamaica Fashion Guild Ltd: Designing Paradise
No full textSmall exhibition marking the first public display of pieces from my personal collection of Caribbean Fashion (Caribbean Fashion Archive).The exhibition represented more than merely a display of garments. It celebrated a moment when Jamaica asserted its creative voice on the global stage. By exploring how fashion can express national identity and cultural confidence