65463 research outputs found
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Messages to the future? Lesbian subversion of official categories in the 1921 UK census
No full textThis article considers how Britain's 1921 census can be a source for histories of lesbian activism. It explores evidence that the census returns were a site of lesbian resistance and considers the implications for our own histories and understandings of activism. It asks whether these official forms can be considered as messages from our forebears to the future, and what that means for our activism today.
The 1921 census form required everyone present in a household on the night of 19 June to be recorded, and their relationship to its ‘head’ to be stated: a process of categorization which reified patriarchal family relations. However, a small number of women – some known to have been in committed relationships with each other - rejected the official directions in favour of their own relationship categories including ‘joint head’ or ‘joint occupier’. They did so in a context where their relationships were legally unspeakable, hierarchies of gender were intimately entwined with those of sexuality and race, and the heteronormative family was positioned as central to the survival of the nation.
Their rebellions are both a form of activism and an archive within an archive, allowing historians to capture experiences which might otherwise be unrecorded. In a time where patriarchal hierarchies are being reasserted, listening to these messages from the past has taken on new urgency
Virtual reality for visions (VRV): a proof-of-concept study examining the development of a new treatment for distressing visual hallucinations in people with psychosis
No full textIntroduction Visual Hallucinations (VHs) (seeing things that others do not, or visions) are a common feature of psychosis, causing significant distress and disability. Services rarely ask about these important experiences, and crucially there are no proven beneficial psychological treatments. There are at least two key challenges faced when treating VHs. First, people report not knowing why they see things others don’t, which leads them to feel alone and different from others. Second, they feel they cannot trust their own eyes to tell what is real or not, which can lead to fears they will be hurt or harmed by the VH, or even if they know the experience is not real, they may fear that they are losing their mind, or that they are not able to control or manage their experiences. For these reasons, they may struggle to put skills and strategies into practice when in the presence of the VH. Consequently, we have developed a novel treatment that addresses these core issues. First, we have a psycho-education and coping strategies package called Visual Unusual Sensory Experiences (VUSE) that uses the best aspects of digital technology (animations, videos) to explain why people have VHs and provides normalising information to help the person to feel less alone. It introduces coping strategies that are then tested in Virtual Reality sessions (VR for Visions VRV) where a representation of the visual experience is provided, enabling the person to safely develop skills and gain a sense of mastery and empowerment. We now plan to test this approach in a proof-of-concept study to help determine if this will help people use these skills in the real world and so help reduce distress, improve functioning and quality of life. We will address uncertainties in the feasibility of developing and delivering this treatment and inform its future use in a larger trial.
Methods and analysis The study is a single arm feasibility trial (n=16) evaluating VUSE+VRV and treatment as usual. The study is recruiting people with psychosis and distressing VHs in one NHS Trust and uses independent but non-blind research assistants to undertake assessments before, during and after treatment (at baseline, 6, 12 week) and at follow-up (16 weeks). Quantitative information on recruitment rates, adherence and completion of outcome assessments (VHs, other psychiatric symptoms, quality of life and perceived recovery) will be collected. Qualitative interviews will capture service-users’ experience of therapy. Analyses will focus on feasibility outcomes and provide initial estimates of intervention effects. Thematic analysis of the qualitative interviews will assess the acceptability of the intervention.
Ethics and dissemination The trial has received NHS Ethical and Health Research Authority approval (25/EM/0077). Informed consent will be obtained from all participants. Findings will be disseminated directly to participants, and services as well as through open access peer-reviewed publication(s).
Trial registration number ISRCTN11350954
Surfacing Hidden Social Innovation for a Hidden Form of Flood Risk: The Story of Project Groundwater
No full textAcross the last decade ‘resilience’ has become a guiding principle for flood risk management (FRM) policymakers. The importance of the role of communities has been recognised, and there is a growing emphasis on innovation to contend with the complexity in community resilience building. Problematic traditional approaches and norms of risk authorities and other stakeholders need to be tackled to bring about meaningful change across social relationships and existing behaviours through social innovation. The paper presents an exploratory case study: Project Groundwater, a partnership building community resilience to groundwater flooding. Following interviews with Project Groundwater partners, we suggest that social innovation was largely ‘hidden’ from view. This paper uses a ‘communication continuum’ to set out the project's communication journey, making visible the processes and practices lying under the surface to reach a novel collaborative relationship with communities. The findings demonstrate a need for sustained focus and commitment to understanding and making further social innovation visible, together with the fostering of capabilities to resource and incentivise wider implementation. The research offers a new perspective on social innovation, with a specific focus on communication to support local level community resilience building to flood risk
False Fronts? CSR Decoupling and Auditor Accountability
No full textThis chapter examines the relationship between CSR decoupling, audit effort, and auditor independence. Using data from Chinese listed firms between 2011 and 2021, the findings suggest that CSR decoupling is positively associated with audit report lag and negatively associated with auditor independence. These results remain robust after employing alternative measures and addressing endogeneity concerns. Further analysis reveals that CSR decoupling is positively related to audit report lag among state-owned enterprises, while it is negatively associated with auditor independence among non-state-owned enterprises. Moreover, high institutional ownership moderates these relationships. The effects of CSR decoupling on audit report lag and auditor independence are more pronounced in firms experiencing financial distress
On Cloitre’s hiccup sequences - On Cloitre’s hiccup sequences - R. Fokkink, G. Joshi
No full textIn 2003, Benoit Cloitre entered a family of sequences in the OEIS that we call hiccup sequences. We collect the various claims, observations, and proofs of properties of these sequences that have been entered in the OEIS over the years, and present a unified approach, inspired by a remarkable theorem of Bosma, Dekking, and Steiner
Toothless but Still Superior: Grins aren't required for happiness superiority effect in multi-target face search
No full textPrevious research (Thirkettle & Wilson, 2024) demonstrated a happiness superiority effect in a novel visual search task, where participants more efficiently identified happy faces than angry ones amongst arrays of randomly assorted emotional expressions. However, prior studies (e.g., Savage et al., 2013) have raised concerns that low-level visual artifacts-particularly in classic one-target search paradigms-may confound such effects. While our task mitigates many of these issues through multiple, distinct, targets and including trial-by-trial randomisation of all array images, one potential confound remains: the bright visual cue created by exposed teeth in toothy smiles. To isolate this factor, we compared search performance using closed-mouth smiles versus toothy-grinned happy faces as targets. Results revealed that the happiness superiority effect persisted with closed-mouth smiles, though it was attenuated. This suggests that while low-level features like visible teeth may enhance detection, the effect is not solely driven by them. Our findings align with Becker et al. (2011), supporting the robustness of the happiness superiority effect and pointing to underlying mechanisms beyond mere visual salience
The Social Psychology of Citizenship: Critical Advances and Interdisciplinary Insights
No full textThis book develops a social psychology of citizenship, pushing the boundaries of the discipline to articulate a theoretically rich social psychological framework for the study of citizenship.
Featuring contributions from established and up- and- coming global researchers, this book draws attention to the micro- politics of everyday life. This volume is divided into four parts, considering different sites where citizenship is performed: governing, bordering, locating, and re- imaging citizenship. Each part considers a particular dynamic of citizenship, and the volume features trans- disciplinary commentaries from expert scholars in other social sciences and humanities. This book also revisits core social psychological topics such as prejudice, intergroup relations, and identities in new, productive ways that foreground the power dynamics and “battles of ideas” playing out in often implicit ways. It provides a systematic, state- of- the- art presentation of key theoretical and empirical work in the social psychology of citizenship and extends citizenship studies to include under- explored topics in the field – such as the environment and precarity – using a critical and decolonial lens.
Bringing together an innovative framework that can advance future study in the field, this book will be highly relevant reading for postgraduate students and researchers in social, political and community psychology, sociology, and migration studies. It will also be of interest to advanced undergraduate students, activists, and policy makers interested in citizenship and societal challenges
Studio Properties: A Contribution to Knowledge in Design Education
No full textIn this paper, we present a critically reflective summary of a five-year collaborative project exploring the pedagogy of the Western design studio and the final output of that work, the book ‘Studio Properties; A Field Guide to Design Education’. We initiated the project in response to the absence of a comprehensive description or definition of the educational studio, which researchers could use to orientate their work, and educators could use to inform their teaching practices. The project concluded by rejecting any explicit description or definition of studio. Continuing that work, we proposed an alternative approach to understanding studio. Rather than attempting to define studio, we focus on making its properties visible and reveal its complexity and significance as a pedagogy. In the paper, we outline the process behind our conclusions and discuss some of the key knowledge and issues surrounding studio pedagogy. These issues include critical conditions that educators and researchers should consider when engaging with studio knowledge, particularly its contextualised and entangled nature
[Book Review] <i>Open Play: The Case for Feminist Sport</i> by Sheree Bekker and Stephen Mumford, London, Reaktion, 2025
No full textInvolving people with lived experience of social work in developing research impact: an evolving collaborative journey supporting social work writing
No full textThis article explores how service users and carers have been involved in reimagining research findings on writing in social work practice. Writing is a core, integral aspect of practice in which social workers need to understand the importance of service users and carers as their partners. This co-produced article reflects on a shared journey of working together and considers some of the ways in which collaborative relationships were fostered