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DEVELOPING A FRAMEWORK TO EVALUATE POST-DISASTER RECOVERY PLANNING PRACTICE IN CONFLICT AND POST-CONFLICT SETTINGS: A Case Study of Recovery Planning Practice between 2016 and 2025 in Mosul, Iraq
No full textThis dissertation addresses a critical gap in post-disaster recovery planning by developing a framework to evaluate planning practice in conflict and post-conflict settings. Evaluation of recovery planning practice is essential to its effectiveness, adaptability and accountability. Drawing on my professional experience in conflict-affected areas, the research focuses on local-level recovery planning and proposes multi-dimensional evaluation criteria that integrate international principles, planning evaluation theory, and conflict considerations.
The methodology was developed through a multi-disciplinary literature review that synthesizes theory from disaster recovery, urban conflict, and planning evaluation. A theoretical framework was developed combining the rationality, performance, and conformance dimensions and encompassing 118 indicators that measure planning documents, processes, and results. The framework was then applied to the recovery planning practice in Mosul, Iraq between 2016 and 2025, using directed content analysis of open-source documents, websites and planning outputs.
Findings from the Mosul case study reveal that while the planning practice shows adequate stage-level scores especially in terms of its fact base and direction-setting components, overall progress remains moderate, particularly in adaptability and transformative impact. The study demonstrates the added value of a context-sensitive evaluation framework and reveals interdependencies between evaluation dimensions illustrating how these interdependencies affect both evaluation practice and planning impact.
The research contributes a novel, adaptable methodology to assess and improve recovery planning practice in fragile settings, advancing both academic research and professional practice. It also highlights the importance of integrating peacebuilding, state-building, and rights perspectives into planning evaluations for sustainable post-conflict recovery
Illegal Wildlife Trade in a Tourism and Biodiversity Hotspot
Get PDFThere are clear connections between tourism, development, and sustainable use—particularly in biodiversity hotspots, where tourists may unknowingly purchase souvenirs made from protected wildlife. This issue is explicitly recognized in the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG15, Life on Land, and SDG16, Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. On the island of Bali, a premier tourist destination with a strong local Hindu culture, we assessed the trade in legally protected wildlife (2022–2025) with the aim of improving the effectiveness of protected species regulations. We recorded 1440 animals for sale (849 as body parts and 591 alive). Almost half the species (27/59) were globally threatened, from other biodiverse hotspots, with few links to Balinese culture or society. Tourism on the island appears to have a negative impact on the environment, and this has implications for the sustainable development of Balinese society. We advocate for promoting sustainable tourism, embedded in Balinese culture, respecting local legislation and traditions
Mapping the evolution of data governance scientific research
Get PDFData governance has emerged as a pivotal area of study over the past decade, yet despite its growing importance, a comprehensive analysis of the academic literature on this subject remains notably absent. This paper addresses this gap by presenting a systematic review of all academic publications on data governance from 2007 to 2024. By synthesizing insights from more than 3500 documents authored by more than 9000 researchers across various sources, this study offers a broad yet detailed perspective on the evolution of data governance research
What are the disciplines of excellence? : the case of the French Excellence initiatives
Get PDFThe rhetoric of excellence has taken hold in higher education and research globally, and with it, a series of reforms aimed at changing the system of symbolic and financial credit allocation in favour of a greater concentration of funds and their competitive distribution. By 2014, more than two-thirds of OECD countries had already adopted such schemes, which resulted in “significant changes in the structure of the research systems” (OECD, 2014, p.17). The Initiatives of Excellence (Idex) are one of the French variations of these policies. By using calls for projects that put universities in competition with each other to create “world-class” institutions, this program concentrates €7.7 billion on nine universities. In doing so, the Idex increases inequalities between French higher education institutions while also deepening inequalities within universities. These funds are also concentrated at the local level, i.e. inside the universities labelled excellent amongst what are considered to be the best researchers and the best teaching programs, increasing the competition between academics and laboratories from the same institutions. Based on a case study of one of the nine Idex universities, involving 89 interviews and written sources, this chapter explores the disciplinary dimension of these inequalities. It demonstrates how this policy results in a stratification of disciplines within the Idex universities, particularly favouring the natural sciences. In this way, this chapter documents the evolving context that economics can encounter within universities shaped by excellence-oriented public policies
The effectiveness of physical activity and nutrition interventions for children and adolescents with cerebral palsy to improve physical health and cognitive outcomes : a systematic review
Get PDFPurpose: Using systematic review methodology, we set out to describe the evidence for physical activity and nutrition interventions for children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP) as compared with no intervention or exposure that reports physical health and cognitive outcomes. Method: Quantitative, primary studies that explored the effectiveness of these interventions, replicable in school and home contexts, in comparison to any other or no intervention or exposure in children and adolescents between the ages of 6–18 years old with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy were included (PROSPERO CRD42022322143). Risk of bias was assessed by Joanna Briggs Institute and QualSyst. Results: A total of 16 international heterogeneous studies (13 physical activity and 3 nutrition) with interventions ranging from a single exposure to 8 months, with quality 58% to 89% and effectiveness, D = 0.03 to 0.97, were included. Outcome measures were varied. Conclusion: The review brings together a number of high-quality studies on physical activity and nutrition interventions and promising findings of impact on cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and cognitive outcomes. Evidence supports implementation of these interventions in community contexts. Future research would benefit from agreement on the use of core outcome measures for meta-synthesis
Environmental patriarchy in a small democracy : women politicians’ experiences of patriarchy in Manx politics
No full textThe Isle of Man is a small European democracy with very close ties to the United Kingdom. Despite in 1881 becoming the first jurisdiction to allow women to vote in national elections, throughout the twentieth century women have been substantially underrepresented in the Manx parliament, Tynwald. Drawing on constitutional documents and original qualitative interviews, this paper argues that two long standing environmental factors posing a challenge to more equal representation – the social and built environments – have been joined in the 21st century by a third: the online environment. All three are shaped by the characteristics of the Isle of Man as a small democracy. These key features, in particular intimacy, capacity, and the lack of strong party institutionalisation, are not shared with the UK; but are shared with other small democracies. This detailed study of the Isle of Man, then, can contribute to understanding of women and politics in small democracies
DMAIC 4.0 in action: introducing MSA 4.0 and Poka Yoke 4.0
No full textThe rise of Big Data and Industry 4.0 has significantly increased data volumes and process complexity, yet DMAIC tools have evolved little to incorporate advances in data science. This Action Research study applies the DMAIC 4.0 framework, operationalizing the integration of Lean Six Sigma with Industry 4.0 technologies. Two novel contributions are presented: MSA 4.0, an AI-enhanced method for scalable measurement system analysis with large datasets, and Poka Yoke 4.0, a predictive, real-time error-prevention approach. Applied to the manual welding process in a German manufacturing company, these innovations achieved an 86% reduction in defective weld area and an 84% reduction in defect counts, with a projected ROI of two years. Beyond the case evidence, the study contributes a replicable strategy by combining DMAIC with the CRISP-DM model, fostering collaboration between data scientists and LSS practitioners. Although the findings are limited to a single case study, the research demonstrates how DMAIC 4.0 can bridge the gap between traditional process improvement and digital transformation. It offers a transferable pathway for OPEX professionals and researchers to strengthen accuracy, error-proofing, and decision-making in the era of Big Data and Industry 4.0 across diverse organizational contexts
Why owls fly while ostriches flounder: An empirical study of advice takers and non–advice takers
Get PDFOn account of its continued focus in public policy, external advice for owners/managers of small firms—so-called guided preparation—has become a topic of perennial research interest for small business scholars for over 25 years. Despite this, evidence surrounding the efficacy of this form of entrepreneurial support is far from certain. Drawing on a major longitudinal data set, this paper examines the differences between SMEs with owners/managers who take advice and those who do not. Our findings are quite emphatic: SMEs whose owners/managers take external advice (i.e. Owls), in general, result in better quality and more informed firms. By contrast SMEs whose owners/managers don’t seek advice (i.e. Ostriches) tend to be less innovative, less profitable, and more financially constrained than their counterparts. The work has important implications for policymakers, which suggests the need to encourage more pro-active SME advice takers, especially for innovative SME owners/managers seeking recourse to strategic forms of advice
The Reading is Language (RIL) model : a theoretical framework for language and reading development and intervention
Get PDFLanguage is at the heart of learning and education and children who enter school with language weaknesses are at high risk of educational failure. We review interventions for reading
and language that have been rigorously evaluated and highlight issues of implementation beyond research trials. Our review confirms that interventions to promote language and reading
skills can be effective. We propose the Reading Is Language (RIL) model, a developmental
extension of the Simple View of Reading. The RIL model views language as a critical foundation for all aspects of literacy development: initially for learning to read words and subsequently for developing reading comprehension and written expression. Identifying, and intervening to ameliorate, language and reading difficulties is feasible and has important implications for improving educational and psycho-social well-being
Later life mobilities at the margins of urban geography
Get PDFThe projected increase in older people within the African population, alongside rapid urbanisation, points to the growing importance of understanding how older people navigate towns and cities across the continent. This aligns with wider concerns that geographical scholarship needs to pay more sustained attention to ageing in Global South contexts. Rather than treating these developments as problems or absences, we approach them as opportunities to explore how geographies of later life can generate new ways to conceptualise the urban experience. To this end, the paper draws on the local vernacular of older residents in the Ghanaian cities of Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi to decentre, contextualise and expand the vocabulary used to depict and interpret urban mobilities. The findings reveal ‘hidden geographies of ageing’ through three forms of mobility practice: Mpanyinfo ho hia (respectful mobilities), YƐ mboa nkoa (collective mobilities) and Me te fie (retired mobilities). These insights enrich conceptual understandings of city life by showing how older people navigate, engage with and shape social hierarchies, communal support networks and economic rationalities. By amplifying the voices of a population often overlooked in epistemological and policy deliberations, this intervention supports interdisciplinary efforts to reimagine how knowledge is produced with and about cities in the Global South. Crucially, the paper challenges the Southern urban critique to better reflect the plurality of marginality that influences everyday life in the Majority World