The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin
PEOPLE & SOCIETY WINTER 2020 ISSUE NO.7
02
Spotlight on Research
11
Grant Successes
27
Christmas Toys Appeal
1
Welcome
In this issue
W
02
Spotlight on research
07
Research and KE activities
11
Grant successes
13
Recognition and awards
14
Student events and successes
20
Policy and practice impact
22
HaSS Research Impact Prizes Showcase
27
Christmas Toys Appeal
elcome to the Winter 2020 issue of People & Society Bulletin. As I write this, we are about to go into another lockdown in Glasgow. While news of progress towards an effective vaccine are promising, it will be a while still before we are able to return to our ‘old normal’. In this context, finding out what our students think of our current online teaching and learning practices is very timely- see our ‘Spotlight on Research’ section for findings from a small-scale study colleagues have carried out in my School. In the same section, read about two fascinating studies on Scotland’s mining heritage and Scotland’s relationship with Europe during the 19th century- and enjoy the play extract in Scots, with characters talking about ‘breken the hoose rules’- how timely. There’s more research to read about in the final section, where we showcase this year’s winners of the Faculty Impact Prizes- congratulations to all winners! In other sections of the Bulletin, you’ll find news on conferences and events colleagues have organised, student successes and vivas completed - well done to all students and their supervisors. Other sections feature KE activities and future events. I’d like to highlight the University’s ‘Engage with Strathclyde’ week, which will be an online event in May next year. This is a good opportunity to showcase research to wider audiences and within the university and events can range from short webinars to full-day events. The deadline for applications is 11th December, however the application requires only minimal detail at this stage. The winter break is just around the corner and as in previous years, a team of student elves are on standby, ready to get on with the gift wrapping job. The university’s annual collection of toys for the most disadvantaged children in the city is going online this year, with only cash donations, which will be used to buy presents. When I started this initiative a few years ago, we had about 300-400 presents to distribute. Last year, Strathclyde distributed over 1,700 presents! This year, more than ever, many families in Glasgow will struggle, so a small gift can give a child a moment of joy. Please consider supporting this thoughtful project, if you can: https://tinyurl.com/y2znqncg As my period in the Associate Dean (PEI) comes to an end, I’d like to thank you all for your contributions to public engagement and impact in the Faculty and the materials you have sent to the Bulletin over the seven issues. I have enjoyed the role immensely and I got to know many of you and your work well- we have so much to offer as a Faculty and great teams across all Schools doing important work that benefits not just our students and staff, but communities across Scotland and further afield. Wishing you all a much deserved break and a happy festive season when it comes, I know most of us will be glad to hurry 2020 away and welcome 2021! Enjoy the issue! Prof Daniela Sime, Associate Dean (Public Engagement & Impact) Follow us: @StrathHaSS
The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin [ People & Society - Winter 2020, Issue No.7 ]
i
t: 0141 444 8410 e: hass-faculty-office@strath.ac.uk www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/
2
SPOTLIGHT ON RESEARCH ‘This is not what we signed up for’: Student views on Blended Learning Cara Jardine, Sally Paul, Tia Simanovic, Ionut Cioarta (School of Social Work & Social Policy) The outbreak of COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on how teaching and learning has been conducted and experienced over the last six months. As a School committed to tackling inequality and practising social justice, the School of Social Work and Social Policy created a short life working group to explore the experiences, views and expectations of students around the move to online and blended learning. In September 2020, the Online and Blended Learning Working Group conducted three focus groups with 12 undergraduate and graduate SWSP students. Overall, participants expressed concerns regarding the academic year ahead and a clear preference for face-to-face learning. Whilst there was an understanding for the reliance on online teaching, given current circumstances, a gradual move towards the blended mode was encouraged. Five key areas of student concern were identified, as are outlined below:
1) Feeling uninformed The overarching theme of our focus groups, regardless of the participants’ year of study, area, or mode of study, was the need for clear communication from the University and anxieties over ‘missing out’ on information. Students wanted timely information on their respective course(s), including the timetable, the syllabus, the required readings, and the (un)availability of the resources. Students with caring responsibilities feared that things would be sprung upon them at the last moment.
“I would like the live lectures because I feel that if I have a question I could ask there and then. If it’s recorded, I will have to email someone, and I don’t know when or if they will get back. Yeah, maybe there could be a mixture – it could be live and recorded because that way I can still access it afterwards.” (Year 3 student) Some participants commented on the sense of community one has when being in an online lecture, while others saw their own potential to procrastinate as a further disadvantage of an asynchronous approach and worried about how they might create a successful learning routine.
2) A loss of interaction and routine
3) Concerns about building a learning community
Most participants argued for synchronous delivery of lectures, with suggestions to record and upload them online for revision purposes.
Students underscored the importance of informal peer discussions in their academic life. Current restrictions have increased their isolation and apprehension to collaborate with individuals they have not met in person. Reduced opportunities for interaction with their teachers and peers was a concern for all students, and particularly those who are new to the university:
Spotlight on research
3 Spotlight on research continued
“This is my first year, so building relationships with new peers and lecturers… I don’t know how it’s going to be. […] When you are in a classroom you are totally focused on the lesson, […] we get kind of live interaction. […] I don’t know how is going to work … I am really nervous about that.” (Year 1 Student) Consequently, students emphasized the need for extra support to build these relationships, particularly for the incoming cohort.
4) A necessity for clear guidance on Zoom interaction The participants considered seminars and practice-based learning (PBL) as a space to actively engage, debate, develop and apply their theoretical knowledge. As moving them online would minimize human interaction, they advised establishing clear expectations of active participation through camera and microphone. Some even argued to condition attendance upon active presence, because hiding behind the black box makes it uncomfortable and irritating for all involved. “If you have a lecturer who is talking only to those who choose to come on camera and who choose to participate, then it’s not working the way it should. We are not going to get the full interaction.” (Year 4 Student) Students also felt online learning required more focused attention, and that regular breaks would be necessary to combat tiredness and disengagement.
5) Online learning should not be the ‘new normal’ The participants supported online learning, given the circumstances, but were excited for the prospects of blended learning. The University was identified as pivotal for the implementation of health and safety guidelines, enabling a successful transition. “I think I would really appreciate blended learning because that’s one of the essences of going to Uni, first and foremost, meeting new people […] If these measures will be put together by the University, following the rules of the pandemic, I think is okay, it will be nice.” (Year 1 student) Thus, students were clear that online learning should only be seen as a temporary solution.
Ways forward Having consulted with students, the Working Group has produced a number of recommendations for supporting learning and teaching in the year ahead. These broadly fall under four themes: communication, interaction, community, and support (for both students and GTAs). Ongoing timely communication: This should include giving (timely) notice of any changes in teaching delivery, seeking feedback from students, explaining the rationale for particular teaching methods, and perhaps sharing staff experiences of pivoting online. Providing space for synchronous interaction: Participants asked for opportunities to engage synchronously with their lecturers. This could be provided in numerous ways, including: live Q&As after recorded lectures, consideration of regular office hours, and the use of MyPlace features such as forums. Building learning communities: Participants were anxious and apprehensive about online seminars, and suggested frequent use of classroom activities and encouragement of teamwork. This might be achieved through: Zoom breakout rooms; collaborative working tools such as screen-share, Wikis, or Google docs; setting ground rules for participation (e.g. encouraging camera use); and encouraging an active approach to learning. Provision of practical support: Participants were worried about access to support and the risk of being left to their own devices regarding IT problems and other pastoral issues. Teaching staff should be mindful that students may struggle with access to appropriate equipment, poor quality internet, and a lack of experience and skill (alongside other challenges), and should be able to direct students to sources of support. Supporting GTAs: The recommendations above have implications for Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) who are likely to be delivering synchronous seminars and tutorials, and who are often seen as particularly approachable by students experiencing difficulties. Yet, casualised staff can be ‘invisible’ within universities: left off the email lists, unable to access systems, and lacking support. Further, GTAs often work considerably more than they are paid for, with estimates suggesting that 45% of their engagement goes unpaid. While these are sector-wide issues, rather than Strathclyde-specific, teaching teams must ensure that GTAs are not overwhelmed by teaching or pastoral work as we all adjust to new ways of teaching and learning.
The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin [ People & Society - Winter 2020, Issue No.7 ]
4 Spotlight on research continued
Bringing Scotland’s Mining Heritage to Life Covid-19 led to the cancellation of creative events across Scotland, and among them was a scheduled performed reading, hosted by the Citizens Theatre, of playwright Martin Travers’ new script A Daurk Maiter. Travers’ play, written in Scots, focuses on a group of young miners in Lanarkshire, in the run-up to the Udston mining disaster of 1887. Written in collaboration with Prof Kirstie Blair and the team leading the AHRC-funded ‘Piston, Pen & Press’ project, it used some of the archival materials located through this project as inspiration. From summer 2019, Martin and director Guy Hollands worked with a group of actors from the BA Acting course at New College Lanarkshire on the script, including giving them training in speaking Scots. A first reading of some of the play’s scenes at North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre in Motherwell, in late September 2019, went down very well with a local audience. But sadly the full performance in March, and a recording of the script scheduled to take place in the Lord Hope studio, could not take place. To ensure that some of the hard work the actors had put in was preserved, Martin and Guy worked with the students during lockdown and recorded one scene on Zoom, which is now available on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkMGgMqHbCc). Humanities at Strathclyde were also able to fund some additional days of Guy’s time, so that he could direct the actors in readings of poems written by Scottish miners about their work (https://tinyurl.com/y23vgha9). These include poems by David Wingate, a miner from Pollokshaws, who used the proceeds from his poetry book to study at the Glasgow School of Mines; by Francis Barnard, a poetry-writing miner who worked at Woodend Colliery, Armadale; by Sarah Moore, a Labour councillor from a mining family in Bathgate; and by Arthur Wilson, who emigrated from Ayshire to Australia and eventually became a well-known Australian MP. Prof Blair said: “It’s great to have these talented local actors working on bringing poems in Scots to life, and to see their enthusiasm for the material. Martin and Guy’s work on A Daurk Maiter shows the importance of writing in Scots and of training actors to perform in Scots. The play highlights the history of mineworkers in a new way, in part by focusing on their literary ambitions. Just like the miner-poets we’re finding in the archives, the central characters in A Daurk Maiter, Charlie and Rose, are both keen amateur writers. Seeing how 19th century poems by historical miner-poets are represented in a 21st century play is really special.”
Extract from A Daurk Maiter, scene 4 [Rose interrupts Charlie and his friends and fellow miners at a Bachelor’s Club gathering in their lodging house, where they are reciting poems and songs] As CHARLIE takes the poem from his pocket ROSE ELLEN enters purposefully. SUNNY. Hen – can ye no see we’re yet thrang? ROSE ELLEN. Busy ye say? ROSE ELLEN picks up a tea cup and sniffs it. ROSE ELLEN Busy breken the hoose rules bi the leuks ae hit! Gif A telt Mrs Hoolihan whit youse’re gittin up tae A’m/ CHARLIE Rose Ellen wants tae jyne. ‘at’s richt int hit Rose? ROSE ELLEN A’m cawed Rose Ellen. No Rose. LAUGHLIN ‘at’s you telt Chic. ROSE ELLEN An aye –A’m breem tae jyne. A hae poems ae ma ain. SUNNY An A hae a yeukie erse bit ‘at disna mean A shoud scart hit in public. SINCLAIR A see nae hairm in lattin the wee lassie SUNNY Noo haud yer pownies Sinclair. A’ve nae kinch wi lassies gaun tae school an aw thon modern weys. Bit ‘is is a Bacheleer’s gaitherin. SINCLAIR An A’m mairit wi a paircel ae seiven weans an you’re a widea-man. Sae gif the lassie’s oot – oor jaikets’re oan the sel an same shoogly heuk! SUNNY Aye bit... SINCLAIR Aye bit whit? LAUGHLIN Lat her dae yin. CHARLIE Aye; A deek nae raison hou no. SUNNY Gat hit ower wi. ROSE ELLEN takes a poem out of her front pocket and shakily begins to read. [Full transcript available to download at https://www. pistonpenandpress.org/mining-matters-play-and-poems/]
Hopefully the full script will still be performed in the future, but in the meantime, this lockdown initiative ensures that some of it is available for the public, and it joins the millworkers’ songs from ‘The Factory Muse’ (https://www.pistonpenandpress.org/ the-factory-muses-songs-from-the-victorian-mills/) as a creative outcome from this major research project into workers’ involvement with literary culture.
Photo credit: Falkirk Community Trust
5 Spotlight on research continued
Warning of Unintended Damage to Scotland’s Historical Relationship with Europe Issued by Scottish Network A research project led by the Scottish Network for NineteenthCentury European Cultures – SNNEC – explored Scottish and European connections and exchanges with ‘nations-in-themaking’ during the 19th century, reflecting on what knowledge then offers us now, through a series of academic workshops and a major public event.
Image: The continent of Europe highlighted in black ©pixers.uk
The project findings have been made available in a new themed Research Framework hosted by the Scottish Archaeological Research Framework, which is part of the Society for Antiquaries of Scotland, the project’s main partner and co-investigator. The Framework offers new perspectives on how ideas circulated, and how circulation was influenced by, for instance, language learning, translation, transnational spaces of sociability (literary salons, cafés, societies), migration and immigration, print culture, as well as life writings. Scottish-born Pansy Montague, aka ‘La Milo’, commanded a very high salary – one akin to that of comedian Harry Lauder. By George V Hubbard ©National Portrait Gallery (licensed under CC BYNC-ND 3.0)
The project also raises the importance of the ability to read and understand primary sources in their original language, which opens up new interpretations of Scotland’s past, its peoples, and material objects.
The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin [ People & Society - Winter 2020, Issue No.7 ]
6 Spotlight on research continued
Invitation to the 1889 Opening of the Forth Bridge, Edinburgh, the reason for the holding of the International Exhibition in 1890, 1889. Courtesy Edinphoto.org.uk/Kenneth G. Williamson
Now the project’s principal investigator warns that our ability to understand Scotland’s history with her European neighbours is under threat due to the closure of Modern Foreign Language courses in UK universities, as well as the uncertainty about the continuation of the Erasmus+ scheme, and the future of the British Council due to Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic, respectively. A December 2019 report from the University Council of Modern Languages reveals a systemic decline in the number of Modern Foreign Language departments in the UK, with the number of language degrees offered in that year dropping from 69 to 62 in 2018. BBC Scotland’s The Nine analysis also revealed that fewer and fewer pupils are now opting to study a language at National 4 and National 5 level.
Dr Katharine Mitchell, the network’s director, says: “The project has found that the study of Modern Languages is an essential lens through which to explore relationships between Scotland and Europe, not just in the past, but in 2020 and beyond.” Professor Sir Tom Devine, author of The Scottish Nation, who gave a public lecture at a SNNEC event held at the National Museum of Scotland, says: “In a post-Brexit world, the role and function of Departments of Modern Languages will become even more essential if we are to ensure the maintenance of connections with Europe which will remain a major trading partner of the UK. Their future has to be secured for the benefit of future generations of students.” SNNEC was funded by an award from the Royal Society of Edinburgh. You can follow them on Twitter @SNNEC-2018 To access the project’s findings, see https://scarf.scot/thematic/snnec/
Spotlight on research
7
RESEARCH AND KE ACTIVITIES Bridging the digital divide for care experienced young people There is growing recognition of the significance of a ‘digital divide’ in UK society - the gap between those who have access to the latest technology and those who do not, with digital exclusion and digital inequality being seen as key factors contributing to the lack of access to services, social isolation and mental health and wellbeing. In Scotland, there has been a lack of national attention on the issues of digital exclusion for those in the care system or those moving on from the care system. CELCIS, the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection, has produced a briefing paper which looks in detail at these gaps by exploring some of the challenges and solutions to digital exclusion for care experienced young people through the even more critical need created by the COVID-19 crisis. The briefing investigates how Scotland’s care leavers have been affected by digital exclusion during the COVID-19 health crisis and how local authorities have responded to these specific needs. It identifies employment, finance, mental health, education, and rights and participation among the key concerns in addition to the role digital connection now has in daily living. The briefing provides a focus on key challenges and barriers, and the possible short term and long term solutions. The recommendations made in this briefing include a call for the Scottish Government, local authorities and all corporate parents to see rights-based digital inclusion for care experienced young people as their responsibility and a key part of all pathways planning and aftercare support in Scotland. Since the briefing was published and disseminated, the Scottish Government has announced an extension to the Connecting Scotland programme to include care leavers, with support for kit, data and connectivity for a year, and technical support. The research team is now undertaking a detailed survey with care leavers exploring their use of digital technology during lockdown, the results of which will be published later this year. https://www.celcis.org/knowledge-bank/search-bank/bridgingdigital-divide-care-experienced-young-people-scotland-if-notnow-when/
Meeting the challenge of COVID-19 Across Scotland many people are continuing to support children, young people, and their families during the global health emergency, adapting and changing practice in order to respond with care and protection where this is needed. CELCIS, the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection, has published a growing bank of examples demonstrating innovative and/or changes in practice. The aim is to share positive practice and solutions about how services and organisations are adapting in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the needs of children, young people, families and those who work to care for and support them under these new circumstances. The ‘Meeting the Challenge’ resource showcases a diverse range of examples of alternative and new ways of working, innovative ideas, and people coming together to help to sustain relationships and offer some stability for young lives during these uncertain times. Many of the examples highlight where children and young people have been central to developing plans and solutions. CELCIS has recorded, reflected on, informed, and inspired others about the impact that these changes are having in the lives of care experienced children and young people, and all those who work and volunteer across public and voluntary services to support them. The key audience is practitioners, service leaders, and policy makers. https://www.celcis.org/knowledge-bank/spotlight/meetingchallenge-2/
CYCJ research on children in the justice system and lockdown Research from the Centre for Youth & Criminal Justice (CYCJ) shows that Scotland’s children and young people are feeling increasingly isolated in lockdown, as COVID-19 restrictions continue. ‘Spend time with me’: Children and young people’s experiences of COVID-19 and the justice system’ shares findings from research undertaken by CYCJ, gathering the views of children and
The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin [ People & Society - Winter 2020, Issue No.7 ]
8 Research and KE activities continued
young people with experience of the justice system on COVID-19 and associated restrictions. Youth justice practitioners were also consulted, and shared practice examples as case studies. The biggest issues facing children and young people in the justice system are isolation and lack of contact with others. Boredom, lack of activity and being stuck at home were also reported to be significant issues in complying with restrictions. This is in spite of almost all children and young people reporting they have been able to stay in touch with family and friends, and practitioners developing creative methods to sustain contact, and continue to support children, young people and their families. A finding of particular concern was the impact of changes to the operation and processes of the justice system across all areas of the Whole System Approach. This included delays owing to restrictions to court and Children’s Hearings; progression of plans; maintaining contact with services and supports including social work and legal professionals and attending court; and for those in and leaving secure care and custody. It is also concerning that some children and young people feel afraid of or targeted by the police – despite others detailing a more positive response and practitioners finding their response to be appropriate. Over time there have also been changes to levels of offending, offence types and compliance with restrictions. This evidence has been used to inform the Alternative Child Rights Impact Assessment about the coronavirus, commissioned by the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland. Claire Lightowler, Director of CYCJ, said: “There is little doubt that COVID-19 has brought unprecedented and challenging circumstances and unimaginable changes to everyone’s lives. Although work is being undertaken to capture children and young people’s views and experiences of COVID-19, as well of those supporting them, we identified a gap in the insights and information from those involved in the youth justice system. This includes children and young people who are deprived of their liberty and who are not able to have usual contact with their support network during this difficult time. “Although we are hearing that children and young people have overall complied well with these restrictions, and many have been able to stay in touch with family and friends and have contact with services and supports, it is inevitable that there are ongoing challenges, such as isolation, boredom and frustrations around sticking to the rules – issues that even we as adults can struggle with. From this research, we are seeing a clear impact
on young people’s health and wellbeing, distressed behaviour that can be displayed as challenging, and increased difficulties in relationships and conflict within the family home, with the associated risks.” In supporting children through this time, the dedication of staff, support to staff and the importance of a partnership approach has been identified as key. Support to families will remain important if the identified potential risks to children are to be avoided, as will the utilisation of child protection processes to support and safeguard these children. However, the challenges in doing so and particularly understanding what is really going on and how people are managing, along with the difficulties of intervening prior to crisis point being reached, have been highlighted. Upholding children’s rights to participation in justice processes was a key recommendation of this research. In such uncertainty, the provision of information and support is even more important. These findings further support reducing the number of children and young people entering custody and the recent recommendations of the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland that the Scottish Government ensure all children detained in YOIs are individually assessed for release using a human rights-based approach, and children in secure care centres should also have their situation reviewed, allowing a rights-based assessment of whether detention continues to be in their best interests. The research also supports understanding of the physical, emotional and psychological effects of the pandemic on children and young people and the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on what governments should do to take a children’s rights-based approach to the crisis, in respect of protecting children in detention and in breach of government rules. Debbie Nolan, who conducted the research, said: “Moving out of lockdown is a very gradual process, the impact of which may not be experienced by all children, young people and their families. We must also aware of and be prepared to deal with the challenging circumstances and the mental health and wellbeing difficulties that COVID-19 and lockdown has exacerbated. This demonstrates the fundamental importance of practitioners maintaining efforts to keep in touch with children, young people and their families and continuing to provide individualised practical and emotional support. Support to maintain contact with others such as family and friends, and providing the resources to facilitate this, will also remain a high priority.”
Research and KE activities
9 Research and KE activities continued
Article on lockdown and its impact on health and fitness levels of school children Research from the School of Psychological Sciences & Health has been included in an article by ‘The Conversation’ discussing the impact lockdown has had on the health and fitness levels of schoolchildren. Professor John J Reilly, Professor of Physical Activity and Public Health Science, focuses his article on a combination of research from pre-lockdown measures and post-lockdown measures, with particular attention paid to how lockdown may have accelerated the decline in fitness among school-age children. There is a growing list of unintended consequences of the COVID-19 lockdown. Some of these are quite well known (e.g. delayed cancer diagnosis and treatment, growing mental health problems). To this list the article in The Conversation adds low and declining fitness of children. Lower fitness will impair current and future health of children, and will impair their wellbeing and academic attainment.There are good examples in relation to child fitness internationally (e.g. Japan, Slovenia) summarised in the article in The Conversation. Other countries could achieve impact by adopting approaches taken in Slovenia for example, and should be starting by making more use of fitness testing data (e.g. beep testing, which many schools do routinely) to monitor fitness. Read the full article at The Conversation here: https:// theconversation.com/as-schools-reopen-will-this-be-the-leastfit-generation-of-schoolchildren-ever-145492
New podcast series on Inequalities among LGBTQI+ Citizens Prof. Yvette Taylor worked with Amanda Stanley, Applied Gender Studies MA student, to produce a podcast series from the DIAL EU funded project ‘Comparing Intersectional Lifecourse Inequalities amongst LGBTQI+ Citizens in 4 European Countries’ (CILIA, 2018-2021) with Scottish user group members. The podcast features an overview by Yvette, and interviews with Dr Churnjeet Mahn, University of Strathclyde, Lou Brodie of LGBTI Elders Social Dance Club, and Professor Sharon Cowan, University of Edinburgh.
You can listen to this here and watch out for forthcoming podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1529860775 You can read the introductory blog here: https://lgbtqilives.wordpress.com/2020/09/04/podcast-seriescomparing-intersectional-lifecourse-inequalities-amongstlgbtqi-citizens-in-4-european-countries-cilia/
RSE funded project on Scottish and European connections and exchanges Dr Kate Mitchell (Italian) led an RSE funded project on Scottish and European connections and exchanges with ‘nations-inthe-making’ during the nineteenth century, reflecting on what knowledge then offers us now, through a series of academic workshops and a major public event. The project’s findings have recently made available in a new themed Research Framework hosted by the Scottish Archaeological Research Framework, which is part of the Society for Antiquaries of Scotland, the project’s main partner and co-investigator. The open-access Framework offers researchers new perspectives on how ideas circulated, and how circulation was influenced by, for instance, language learning, translation, transnational spaces of sociability (literary salons, cafés, societies), migration and immigration, print culture, as well as life writings . The project also raised the importance of the ability to read and understand primary sources in their original language, which opens up new interpretations of Scotland’s past, its peoples, and material objects. To access the project’s findings, visit our Research Framework at https://scarf.scot/thematic/ snnec/ You can also follow us on Twitter @SNNEC-2018
Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Franco-Prusian war The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 is widely acknowledged to have been a cause of intense political, social and cultural conflict, a shaping element in modern French and German nationalism, and a significant factor in the international tensions leading to the outbreak of the First World War. It led to the completion of Italian unification and the unification of
The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin [ People & Society - Winter 2020, Issue No.7 ]
10 Research and KE activities continued
Germany in 1871. The 150th anniversary of the war provides an opportunity to reassess its impact as a turning-point in shaping the Europe of today.
Dr Laura Steckley, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, recorded an update on the work of the Scottish Physical Restraint Action Group, in a discussion with CELCIS colleagues.
Having published widely on the Franco-Prussian War, including a book on the impact of the French defeat, Dr. Karine Varley of the School of Humanities, has been actively involved in this year’s events marking the 150th anniversary of the war. Dr. Varley was invited to join the Scientific Committee advising on the official French and German commemorations, liaising with government departments, museums and working with the Souvenir Français (French war graves commission).
SIRCC 2020 Online drew audiences from across Scotland, the rest of the UK, Ireland, Australia, Bolivia and South Africa. There were over 150 attendees at the webinars, and over 500 views (and counting) of the recorded webinars, giving SIRCC a much wider audience and a legacy of content.
In January 2020, Dr. Varley was a guest on BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time, hosted by Melvyn Bragg, for an episode exploring ‘The Siege of Paris 1870-71’, as well as contributing across a threepart primetime TV series on the Franco-Prussian War filmed in Berlin, broadcast in France and Germany in August 2020. The series was widely praised in the press, including in Le Monde, Le Figaro and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Dr. Varley was also commissioned to write a feature-length article on ‘Death and Sacrifice in the Franco-Prussian War’ for History Today magazine, published in August 2020. In February 2020, Dr. Varley was invited to speak about European diplomacy during the Franco-Prussian War at an event marking the 150th anniversary of the war in Strasbourg, a city which was besieged and annexed by Germany in 1871. The audience included members of the public, students and the media.
SIRCC conference 2020 Online For the last 20 years, the Scottish Institute of Residential Child Care conference has taken place in Scotland. Organised and run by CELCIS, the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection, for the first time in its history the conference was cancelled, due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. CELCIS rethought the offer with its conference group and developed a programme of online resources, webinars and discussion around key topics, over a period of ten days. The needs of the residential child care workforce over the last few months, The Promise (the recommendations from the Independent Care Review), and the lived experience voice of young people, were the key focus told through the theme of the ‘extraordinary ordinary’ – the power of everyday care.
https://www.celcis.org/training-and-events/sircc-2020-onlinecontent/
Engage with Strathclyde Engage with Strathclyde is the University of Strathclyde’s flagship events programme which takes place annually at the start of May. The events programme provides multiple opportunities to find out more about the University’s worldleading research and technologies, as well as how to benefit from our research, consultancy, CPD and other collaborative knowledge exchange with industry, the public and third sectors. After a year’s hiatus due to COVID-19, Engage with Strathclyde 2021 will return between Tuesday 4th and Friday 28th May 2021 with an online events programme. The programme of online events will be available in early 2021. If you are a member of staff, and would like to propose an event during Engage with Strathclyde 2021, please complete the expression of interest form by Friday 11th December 2020. You should login with your DS username and password, and select event proposal. Guidance notes on the proposal process are available. The Engage Team will arrange a meeting with you (and the relevant event organisers) to discuss your event following receipt of the online proposal. If you have any questions, or would like to discuss an idea for an event in advance of completing the proposal form please contact: engage-week@strath.ac.uk
Starting at the end of September, SIRCC 2020 Online published daily content in bite size chunks, which those working in residential child care could dip in and out of, including video, reflections, discussion points and live webinars, which were recorded and available to view the next day.
Research and KE activities
11
GRANT SUCCESSES Scottish Parliament Fellowship for Prof Yvette Taylor Professor Yvette Taylor, School of Education, has been awarded a Scottish Parliament Academic Fellowship ‘The intersectional impact of COVID-19 on LGBT+ people in Scotland’.
As the UK has withdrawn from the European Union, it is unclear how legal, political and economic uncertainties will shape EUborn young people’s life chances. The project will produce new data on the multiple transitions and inequalities experienced by EU-born young people aged 16-26 living in the context of increasing uncertainty as the UK leaves the European Union.
Yvette will also be a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Feminist Research, York University, Canada, albeit now remotely, aiming to connect the Centre to the Strathclyde Feminist Research Network and the University’s strategic Gender sub-theme. The Strathclyde Feminist Network Seminar Series will continue in Semester 2, including presentations from Dr Hannah McCann, University of Melbourne, Punjabi based designer Samia Singh, and the collective Feminist Educators Against Sexism in Education #FEAS – watch out for forthcoming details @strath_fem
New grant to examine young Europeans’ transitions Prof Daniela Sime (Social Work & Social Policy) will be Coinvestigator in a new ESRC funded grant (Amount awarded: £517,000) examining young Europeans’ transitions to education, work and training and their experiences of citizenship. The project, entitled ‘Post-migration transitions and pathways to citizenship for EU youth in the UK amidst debates, challenges and anticipations’ will be led by Dr Kate Botterill (Lecturer, University of Glasgow), with Prof Sime and Dr McCollum (St Andrews) as Co-Investigators.
Digital Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia in Chronic Migraines: Feasibility of a Randomised Controlled Trial PI Dr Megan M Crawford ; Co-Is, Dr George Gorrie and Dr Mona Sani-Ghadiri (NHS Greater Glasgow &Clyde) and Dr Leanne Fleming Funded by Brain Research UK, award £200,000; 2021-2024. Chronic migraine (CM) is a debilitating condition that costs the NHS about £150 million per year. Previous research has shown that insomnia is a risk factor for migraines. Our group
The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin [ People & Society - Winter 2020, Issue No.7 ]
12 Grant successes continued
has hypothesised that two modifiable behaviours explain this relationship between insomnia and migraines: daytime napping and nocturnal light exposure. To cope with the migraines, individuals will nap, which can reduce the drive for sleep at night. Exposure to evening bright light, potentially because of the inability to fall asleep, can delay the release of melatonin and reduce sleep quality. Poor sleep in turn is a trigger for migraines. We believe that these behavioural mechanisms are valid targets and they are explicitly addressed in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for insomnia (dCBT-I). Our group has demonstrated the feasibility of reducing insomnia and migraine symptoms using digital CBT-I (dCBT-I). Digital CBT-I may be particularly appealing for individuals with chronic migraines, since it adds no additional burden associated with health care visits. In our proof of concept trial, we established feasibility, acceptability and preliminary efficacy of dCBT-I. We would like to extend this line of research by using a randomised control trial (RCT) design to evaluate more rigorously dCBT-I and to probe mechanism of change. Since the uncontrolled proof of concept study was conducted in a self-selected, digitally literate sample in the US, there is a need for a feasibility RCT at this stage, to refine our methodology in a UK sample with migraine patients prior to progressing to full-scale trial. We propose to recruit individuals who meet criteria for CM and insomnia directly referred from two neurology clinics, which will act as clinical recruiters. Eighty participants will be randomised either to a dCBT-I group or to sleep hygiene education (SHE, control group). The main outcomes will be collected at post-treatment, and long-term effects will be assessed after 3, and 6 months follow-up.
Major AHRC-funded international project on the rise and fall of Primodos and other hormone pregnancy rests Dr Jesse Olszynko-Gryn, a Strathclyde Chancellor’s Fellow in History of Health and Wellbeing, has recently launched a major AHRC-funded international research project that will now be running until 2025 thanks to a 2-year extension. This project examines, in collaboration with patient groups, the rise and fall of Primodos and other hormone pregnancy tests (HPTs). The project’s focus on HPTs, one of the three products covered by “First Do Not Harm”, the Report of the IMMDSR, which was recently released.
Today it may be difficult to believe that doctors ever prescribed pills as pregnancy tests. However, between the 1950s and 1980s, millions of women worldwide were given HPTs: diagnostic drugs that ruled out gestation by inducing menstrual-like bleeding (a ‘negative’ result; no bleeding implied pregnancy). HPTs were first marketed by the West German pharmaceutical company Schering AG (now Bayer) in 1950. Compositionally similar to oral contraceptives, they prefigured ‘the pill’ by about a decade. Starting in 1967, HPTs came under suspicion; initially for causing spina bifida and then for inducing miscarriage and a range of birth defects akin to those caused by thalidomide, the notorious sedative that was also used to treat morning sickness. In 1978, the British and West German parents of malformed children whose mothers had taken HPTs while pregnant organised to take legal action against Schering. Although HPTs have not been available for decades, new archival findings and scientific evidence have revitalised long dormant patient-led campaigns in Britain and Germany. Against a backdrop of persistent media interest, continuing scientific research, and resumed litigation, our project will cut through the polemic to produce at a subtler, more nuanced historical understanding of HPTs. It will also seek to better understand the West German origins of oral contraception as well as international debates over the use and regulation of drugs in pregnancy and the spectre of birth defects after thalidomide. The research into HPTs has picked up quite a bit of steam and the latest research has been shared widely on social media by MP’s and government bodies alike. According to The Guardian, “the report makes wide-ranging recommendations, including the appointment of an independent patient safety commissioner, an overhaul of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the expansion of the General Medical Council register to include a list of financial interests for all doctors.” Dr Jesse Olszynko-Gryn has also recently written an article for The Conversation about Londoners in the Blitz accepting face masks as a way of preventing infection in comparison to today’s objectors in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Congratulations to all grant winners!
Grant successes
13
RECOGNITION AND AWARDS OBE for leading children’s champion
You can see the full list at: https://www.ukri.org/news/shortlist-announced-for-2020medical-humanities-awards/
A leading advocate for the rights and wellbeing of children in Scotland and worldwide has been appointed an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Congratulations and good luck at the awards ceremony!
Professor Jennifer Davidson is the Executive Director of the University of Strathclyde-based Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures, and the founding Director of CELCIS (the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection). She has held leadership positions in child and youth care, social work and professional education in North America and Europe. She is now working extensively with the United Nations (UN), and with other international organisations, including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), on responding to children’s distinct needs, and realising their full range of rights and opportunities, to embed these in the delivery of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Inspiring Children’s Futures is an international research, policy and practice implementation group with the shared vision of ensuring children and young people facing adversity have what they need to reach their full potential. Professor Davidson said: “I’m grateful to receive this recognition of my efforts. I am continuously inspired by the passion and drive of the many children I have had the great privilege of working with, and by the magnitude of the challenge that the world faces to secure the wellbeing of all children. “This award is a reflection of the many excellent people I have had the great honour to work with, who are deeply committed and highly motivated to making change happen with, and for, children.”
Medical Humanities awards nominations Professors Jim Mills and Matt Smith have been nominated for this prestigious award. Jim Mills has received a nomination for Outstanding Leadership, while Matthew is nominated for ‘Best Research’.
CELCIS PACE Programme shortlisted for Holyrood Scottish Public Services Awards 2020 The CELCIS Permanence and Care Excellence (PACE) programme has been shortlisted for the Colin Mair Policy into Practice award in this year’s Holyrood Scottish Public Services Awards 2020. The awards ceremony will be held virtually on Wednesday 16 December. Aileen Nicol, Head of Improving Protection and Permanence at CELCIS, said: “This is a tremendous recognition of the work over the last 5 years and comes as we are in the closing stages of concluding the Programme and publishing the legacy learning and resources to be available to the sector and as a building block in our continuing work towards realising the Promise.”
About the PACE Programme The Permanence and Care Excellence Programme (PACE), a six year programme led by CELCIS and concluding in November 2020, is a Quality Improvement programme with an ambitious vision: working alongside local authority partnerships (27 in total), the Children’s Hearing System, and other agencies across Scotland to reduce the protracted waiting times and decision making uncertainty for too many babies, children and young people before they finally experience a stable, loving, permanent home to grow up in. Research clearly shows that delays to a child having a stable and nurturing home has significant consequences on a child’s life long development and denies them the emotional, physical and legal security to which they are entitled. The PACE programme was born out of a need to address these concerns, and to ensure that, as thoroughly considered and as quickly as possible, with minimum disruption, every looked after child in Scotland will ultimately be provided with a safe, stable, secure and nurturing home to grow up in. Congratulations and good luck!
The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin [ People & Society - Winter 2020, Issue No.7 ]
14
STUDENT EVENTS AND SUCCESSES The PGR Writing Group Picture the scene: there I am, a part-time PGR student who often used the Grad School on evenings and weekends, at home, in lockdown, trying to adjust to working from home. By May, I was really struggling and my EdD work was starting to suffer. I needed an accountability boost to get me going and support to find a new way of working. After a discussion with Prof. Kate Wall, the PGR writing group was born! The writing group has gone from strength to strength since. We meet Wednesdays 3.30pm – 6pm and Saturdays 10am – 12.30pm, online via Zoom. There are a team of PGRs who help facilitate now: myself, Jess, Nova, Linda and Anne. The sessions are structured into two 1 hour work sessions, with goal setting and a warm up at the beginning, a break between and a round up at the end where we report back how we got on. The break is not just research chat, we’ve chatted about anything and everything from Bargain Hunt to Buckfast!
friends that understand the journey too, along for the ride! I can’t overemphasise how transformative that has been. All are welcome, no sign up necessary! If you would like to be added to the mailing list for the weekly Zoom links please contact me at: lorna.anderson@strath.ac.uk
School of Education Doctorate Showcase 2020 The School of Education held its first Doctoral Showcase on Saturday 29 August 2020. It was originally planned for May 2020, but this had to be rescheduled in light of Covid-19 restrictions. The Showcase took place via Zoom and attracted 100 attendees, including current and prospective students, School and Faculty staff and academics from other institutions.
The writing group sessions are time to block out your diary and have some dedicated space for your work. It’s popular to come along with the goal of tackling that task you’ve been putting off! It is so much more than writing though; people have made connections with others doing related work, shared resources, papers, useful links…and had a sounding board for any ideas / questions / worries, etc. The peer support has been the most valuable aspect – we have all made lots of new research pals!
Several current PhD and EdD students gave poster presentations and another 8 students led a discussion. Discussions ranged from undertaking a part-time PhD, to educational philosophies to gathering data using mobile methods. The Showcase received very positive feedback and recruited nearly 20 students into our Doctoral programmes. Consequentially, we now have the biggest cohort of EdD students we have had starting their Doctorate this year – around 50 students. We now plan to hold the Showcase twice a year (January and August) as an opportunity for current students to promote their work and as a recruitment event for prospective applicants.
Being part-time, I knew no one but the three others from my cohort before the group. Now I have lots of new School of Ed
For more information, please contact Dr Lee Coutts (Associate Director PGR): lee.coutts@strath.ac.uk
Student events and successes
15 Student events and successes continued
Viva successes School name
Degree
Discipline
Student
Thesis Title
School of Psychological Sciences and Health
PhD
Counselling
Susan Stephen
The Strathclyde Inventory as a measure of outcome in person-centred therapy
School of Humanities
PhD
Genders Studies
Maja Andreasen
Not just a joke: rape culture in Internet memes about #MeToo
School of Social Work and Social Policy
PhD
Criminology
Jo Bailey-Noblett
Prison staff perceptions of their role in the rehabilitation and desistance support of offenders
School of Social Work and Social Policy
PhD
Sociology
Allan Clyne
If it is Christian, can it be youth work? An examination of the relationship between Christianity and Youth Work, from the mid 19th century to 2014
School of Social Work and Social Policy
PhD
Social Work
Samina Karim
Power and the Historic Abuse of Children in Care
School of Humanities
MRes
History
Laura McNabney
Lynching and Ladies in the American South:White Women’s Complicity in White Supremacy, Racial Violence and Suffrage from the Progressive Era to the Great Depression
School of Humanities
PhD
History
Alessandra Magrin
The Wild West in Italy and in the Italian Imagination
School of Government and Public Policy
PhD
Politics
Maria Zuffova
Governments in the spotlight? On the use and impacts of freedom of information laws and proactive publication of government data
School of Humanities
PhD
History
Stuart Bradwel
'Doctor's Orders' - Type 1 Diabetes and the Consultative Relationship, 1948-2002
School of Humanities
PhD
English
Miles Beard
The Fiction of Anita Brookner: Persona, Reception, and Literary Value
School of Law
PhD
Law
Jonathan Brown
Corpus Vile or Corpus Personae? The Status of the Human Body, its Parts and its Derivatives in Scots Law
School of Psychological Sciences and Health
PhD
Psychology
Rebecca McCartan
Using cognitive dissonance inducing interventions to change drivers' attitudes towards speeding and reduce speeding behaviour
School of Law
PhD
Law
Erin Ferguson
Privatisation and Public Access to Information in the United Kingdom
School of Social Work and Social Policy
PhD
Public Health and Health Policy
Dimitar Karadzhov
'An Inkling of Hope': Understanding Personal Recovery in Individuals Transitioning Out of Chronic Homelessness: A Transatlantic Qualitative Study
School of Psychological Sciences and Health
PhD
Psychology
Nathalie Noret
The Role of Cognitive Appraisals in the Relationship between Peer-Victimisation and Poor Mental Health
School of Psychological Sciences and Health
PhD
Psychology
Kirsten Russell
Investigating the link between symptoms of sleep disturbance and subsequent self-harm risk during adolescence
School of Social Work and Social Policy
PhD
Social Policy
Dorota Szpakowicz
‘NEET’ or left out? Disadvantaged young people, everyday experiences of marginalisation and ‘accelerated’ transitions in urban Scotland
School of Psychological Sciences and Health
PhD
Physical Activity for Health
Stephen Malden
Translating the ToyBox Childhood Obesity Prevention Intervention to Scotland
School of Humanities
MRes
History
Rana Mohamed
How efficient were state and non-state actors in providing humanitarian relief to persons displaced as a result of Nazi concentration camps c1944-48
The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin [ People & Society - Winter 2020, Issue No.7 ]
16 Student events and successes continued
School name
Degree
Discipline
Student
Thesis Title
School of Humanities
PhD
History
Ian Baker
Cocaine in British Colonial Burma: Convergences of Commerce, Consumption, and Control
School of Education
PhD
Education
Eishin Teraoka
Pedagogies of affect in physical education: exploring teaching for affective learning in the curriculum area of health and wellbeing
School of Humanities
PhD
History
Yun Huang
Beyond Opium: A History of Refined Drugs and Government Regulation in Modern China, c. 1871-1945
School of Humanities
MRes
English
Innes McGarry
The Horror of History and the Historical Moment in the Fiction of M.R James
School of Education
PhD
Education
Mohammed Alduaiji
The affordances and constraints of distributive leadership in effecting school improvement in Saudi Arabian Primary Schools for boys
School of Humanities
PhD
English
Kathryn Ailes
The Performance and Perception of Authenticity in Contemporary UK Spoken Word Poetry
School of Education
EdD
Education
Jane Munro
A qualitative multi-method study to explore the relevance of Benner’s ‘novice to expert’ nursing theory in contemporary post-registration wound care higher education
School of Humanities
PhD
Creative Writing
Scott McNee
It’s No Real Pleasure In Life: The Grotesque in Southern Gothic and Beyond
School of Law
Phd
Law
Natasha Attard
The principle of proportionality as interpreted and applied by the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights as well as the Maltese Constitutional Court.
School of Humanities
PhD
Creative Writing
Stuart Boon
This Dying Machine
School of Law
Mphil
Law
Nicola Zoumidou
Adopting a Care Ethics approach to fill the void between formal and substantive equality for women solicitors: An analysis of policies of the Law Societies of Scotland, and England & Wales
School of Education
PhD
Education
Ohud Saffar
The effect of using universal design for learning (UDL) to improve Vocational programme with Cognitive disability and the challenges facing this method from the point of view teachers
School of Psychological Sciences and Health
PhD
Physical Activity for Health
Bradley MacDonald
Sedentary Behaviour in Office Workers: Using Pragmatic Evaluation and the RE-AIM Framework to Improve Potential for Impact in the Real World
School of Psychological Sciences and Health
MRes
Physical Activity for Health
Cera Grady
Exploring Osteoporosis sufferers Knowledge on Sedentary Behaviour in the Management of their Disease
School of Psychological Sciences and Health
MRes
Physical Activity for Health
Nana Kwofie
The association between Scottish pre-school children adherence to the 24hr movement guidelines and their motor skill acquisition.
School of Social Work and Social Policy
PhD
Public Health and Health Policy
Claire Goodfellow
Mental health literacy and intended help-seeking in adolescence: Examining the mediating and moderating effects of personal and perceived stigma
Student events and successes
17 Student events and successes continued
Congratulations to all students and their supervisors, especially as many of these examinations took place online! And here are some statements from students whose viva examinations took place online:
Maja Andreasen (Gender Studies) Well done to Angela de Britos, Teaching Fellow in the School of Education, who has completed her PhD with the University of Glasgow. Angela’s thesis, entitled ‘Nurturing bilingual children: the voice of Spanish-speaking families in the West of Scotland’, examined the extent to which families of Latin American and Spanish heritage were able to nurture their children’s linguistic and cultural identities.
“After the initial disappointment that I would not get the viva I had hoped for, I was pleasantly surprised by how smoothly the viva went. There were no technical issues and my supervisor had done everything she could to prepare me and calm me down. My viva went really well, I passed with no corrections, and I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed it. It mostly felt like a conversation between equals and where my thoughts and opinions mattered. For the first time during my PhD, I finally felt like an expert on my topic. All the viva celebrations I had planned were cancelled, but my partner had the champagne ready and my friends and family did their best to celebrate me remotely.”
The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin [ People & Society - Winter 2020, Issue No.7 ]
18 Student events and successes continued
Scott McNee (Creative Writing)
Eishin Teraoka (Education)
“I was nervous about the Zoom viva chiefly due to connectivity reasons - I think everyone was. There are protocols in place for lost connections, but mostly I was concerned that signal issues could disrupt the flow of the conversation. However, the meeting ran smoothly, and the convenor is able to move the student quite easily into separate breakout or waiting rooms for portions where the examiners must confer. I will also say that waiting for the Viva in the comfort of your own space is perhaps more relaxing than an in-person interview format might be - I certainly felt more confident.”
“I submitted the final draft of my thesis on the 21st of March 2020 as planned. Then I went back home to Japan. At that moment, I assumed I would be able to come back to Glasgow to attend the Viva in-person around summer. However, a decision was made to hold the Viva via Zoom at the end of March. Although I never used Zoom, I was not worried, because the Graduate School and the convener provided me with lots of guidance.
Louise Brown Nicholls offering a convener’s view “As challenging as the current circumstances have been, it’s remarkable how much of our everyday business has been able to continue successfully, albeit with some adjustments to our procedures. If the pandemic had happened 10 years ago, one wonders how much we would have been able to achieve in terms of remote working. Thankfully, technology has allowed us to conduct multiple online PhD viva examinations in recent months. Although not ideal in certain respects, for example the networking and post-examination discussions are not quite the same as they would be in person, it is fantastic that our PhD students have still been able to progress through the final stages of their PhD and move on to the next stage of their careers. The online viva also opens up new opportunities for example regarding more international vivas. While these did take place pre-COVID, I’m sure these will become all the more common, even after we return to in-person vivas again as the norm.”
As for preparing for the Viva, at first, I wrote my responses to typical viva questions that the RSP class provided (‘Preparing for your viva’). This practice was beneficial to reflect on what I have done. My supervisors helped me a lot, as well. We did a mock Viva twice. As my supervisors advised me, it’s important to read your thesis carefully and get the big picture questions right to begin with, such as ‘why this topic is important’ and ‘what contributions this research made to the field’. The Viva was scheduled on the 30th of April at 6.30 pm. On the day, I was a little bit nervous in the morning, but I kept myself calm. I think being surrounded by familiar things at home helped me feel comfortable. The convener set up the Zoom meeting so that I only needed to access the link. I was in a ‘waiting room’ ahead of the Viva. Once the examiners were ready, I joined the meeting, and the convener had some words about the overview of the conduct of a Zoom Viva. Then the Viva began. I remember that the first question was ‘why did you do this research in the first place?’ I know this is an icebreaker question, but I think it is the most substantial question that you need to answer with confidence. My Viva lasted for around two hours. To be honest, there were some questions I did not feel I answered that well. But overall, I was comfortable during the meeting, showing the benefits of my preparation. Also, I really appreciated that the examiners gave me helpful feedback to develop the thesis. At the end of the examination, I was put in a ‘waiting room’ for around 15 minutes while the examiners had a discussion on the examination outcomes. When the convener brought me back in the meeting, the external examiner told me ‘congratulations, we’ll recommend you will be awarded a PhD. The degree will be awarded subject to minor amendments’. If I have to say something to other PhD students preparing for a Zoom Viva, I would say don’t worry too much. The Graduate School staff, your convenor, and your supervisors are supportive so that everything goes well. There were no technical difficulties. Please be positive and enjoy yourself.”
Student events and successes
19 NEW BOOK OUT
Feminist Repetitions in Higher Education: Interrupting Career Categories, by Maddie Breeze and Yvette Taylor. In press (Nov 2020 publication) Palgrave Gender & Education Series. To do feminism and to be a feminist in higher education is to repeat oneself: to insist on gender equality as more than institutional incorporation and diversity auditing, to insert oneself into and against neoliberal measures, and to argue for nuanced intersectional feminist analysis and action. This book returns to established feminist strategies for taking up academic space, re-thinking how feminists inhabit the university and pushing back against institutional failures. The authors assert the academic career course as fundamental to understanding how feminist educational journeys, collaborations and cares and ways of knowing stretch across and reconstitute academic hierarchies, collectivising and politicising feminist career successes and failures. By prioritising interruptions, the book navigates through feminist methods of researcher reflexivity, autoethnography and collective biography: in doing so, moving from feminist identity to feminist practice and repeating the potential of queer feminist interruptions to the university and ourselves. “Why must feminism still repeat itself? What must feminism still intervene in? How can we stretch our colleagues, disciplines, universities and ourselves in our feminist interruptions? How do feminists negotiate the ambivalences of working in the non-feminist university? This vital book responds by creatively attending to unequal educational journeys along intersecting paths of privilege and precarity across academic ‘career courses’. Developing lively, innovative methods the authors’ remarkably nuanced analysis harnesses and interrogates the transformative potential of feminist theories, methods, and practices. This book makes an extraordinarily valuable contribution across interdisciplinary social science, and stands out for expanding the repertoires available for doing feminist work.”— Professor Mary Lou Rasmussen, The Australian National University, Australia
Autism (Neurodiverse) Friendly University – working group Autism Network Scotland (which is housed within the faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences) is working with colleagues from across the University looking to explore the concept of Strathclyde become an ‘Autism (Neurodiverse) Friendly University. This would involve a range of activities which could benefit students and staff across Strathclyde. If you are interested in joining a working group to explore this exciting possibility please contact Richard Ibbotson (ANS Director) richard.ibbotson@strath.ac.uk
The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin [ People & Society - Winter 2020, Issue No.7 ]
20
POLICY AND PRACTICE IMPACT Bridging the Disconnect in Ocean Governance: Seminar Series for the IMO’s Maritime Week
The seminar series for the 2020 IMO’s Maritime Week were organised by the Embassy of the Republic Indonesia in London and the One Ocean Hub from September 21st-23rd, 2020. The seminar series explored the connections between a variety of key issues at the interface of shipping and sustainable development. It highlighted how the sustainability of maritime transport is crucial for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Convention on Biological Diversity. The IMO’s Maritime Week seminar series were opened by Professor Elisa Morgera, Director of the One Ocean Hub. Elisa’s opening remarks highlighted the interconnection between ocean systems and lifeforms, environmental challenges, and different sectors of use, and the need to find new approach to address challenges facing maritime transport that mirror the connectivity of the ocean. The IMO’s Maritime Week seminar series were structured under three themes. The first seminar on “Mainstreaming Sustainability Principles” provided multi-stakeholders insights on the importance of mainstreaming sustainability principles and climate action criteria into all economic activities and sectors including maritime transport. On the first
day Mr Suyono, a representative of the Indonesian National Shipowners Association, offered industry perspective on mainstreaming sustainable principles in shipping. Dr. Capt. Antoni Arif Priadi, the Director for Sea Traffic, Indonesian Ministry of Transportation, provided an explanation on the Indonesian government programme to minimise environmental impact of shipping. Professor Elisa Morgera presentation brought to our attention corporate environmental accountability and the human rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. Dr Kira Erwin drew our attention to the contestation between shipping interests and local fishing communities in Durban, South Africa, and the pressing need to take into account different stakeholders’ interests, culture, heritage, and spiritual ways in ocean governance. The second day seminar on “Ocean and Climate Change” brought to our attention the problem posed by climate change, an issue at the core of the interface between shipping activity and sustainable development. It provided an explanation of the effects of climate change on the ocean, coastlines, and coastal communities that have been disproportionately impacted by increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. Professor Pierre-Jean Bordahandy, Chair of the School of Law Postgraduate & Research Committee, University of South Pacific, Vanuatu, delivered a comprehensive explanation on the negotiations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping under the IMO. Professor Kofi Nyarko from the University of Cape Coast Ghana, and Dr Hendra Siry from the Indonesian Ministry of Marine and Fishery stressed the impacts of climate change on the ocean, coastlines, and coastal communities. The third seminar on “Marine Pollution” provided an overview of the problem posed by marine pollution, shared best practices to improve pollution prevention measures, and elaborated the role of law and governance in technology and innovation to deal with marine pollution. Professor Narayanaswamy, deep-sea ecologist & micro-plastic researcher at the Scottish Association for Marine Science, explained about the distribution and abundance of microplastics in the world’s oceans. Mr Basilio Araujo from the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment elaborated the cooperative mechanism between the littoral states and users of the Straits of Malacca to improve pollution prevention measures in this area, and the impacts of oil spills to local communities in Indonesia that are relying on tourism and seaweed farming for their livelihood.
Policy and practice impact
21 Policy and practice impact continued
Mr Loukas Kantogiannis from the IMO’s Marine Environment Division’s presentation focused on the implementation of Marine Pollution (MARPOL) Convention Annex V that deals with garbage from ships – such as all plastics, cargo residues, and fishing gear – and the collaboration between IMO and other stakeholders such as FAO and fishing vessel to support this. The seminar series was ended by closing remarks delivered by the Indonesian Charge d’Affaires in London, Mr. Adam Mulawarman Tugio. In his remarks Mr Tugio underscored the importance of improving connectivity between various stakeholders and sectors to overcome challenges in achieving sustainable shipping. To illustrate his point Mr Tugio in his closing remarks stated how marine litter is not only harmful to the environment but could also posed danger to shipping.
The second session focused on new financial management options in 2021-27. It started with a presentation by Fabian Gal of EPRC based on the thematic paper ‘Real costs or real simplification? Financial management in Cohesion Policy’. The discussions that followed addressed financial management in 2014-20, and the simplification available in the different financial instruments, exploring the options for the future period of 2021-27. General lessons highlighted included a need for coordination and cooperation, particularly with the Audit Authority, and expected trade-offs between the degree of simplification and variations in reimbursement.
IQ-Net Conference
The third session delved on a particular financial instrument – Financing Not Linked to Costs (FNLTC). Stefan Kah of EPRC presented the second part of the paper on financial management. This focused on the comparison of FNLTC – based on performance – with other traditional instruments – based on costs. Considerations for the 2021-27 period foresee an experimental increase in the take-up of FNLTC.
In June 2020, the European Policies Research Centre (EPRC) successfully organised and hosted the 48th IQ-Net knowledge exchange conference, and the first one done virtually, by use of the Zoom platform.
The virtual conference concluded with a get-together, organised in the afternoon of 24 June, to wish well to Garry White of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in England, who has retired after a longstanding partnership.
IQ-Net is an EPRC run network and knowledge exchange programme that brings together regional and national authorities from Structural Funds programmes across the EU. Its aim is to improve the quality of Structural Funds programme management through exchange of experience. The network involves a structured programme of applied research and debate; network partners meet twice a year, with conferences being organized and facilitated by EPRC and hosted by the network partners on a rotation basis.
The next conference will delve on Fraud Risk Management and on key issues related to the management and implementation of EU’s Structural Fund programmes. It will take place virtually late 2020. Read more about IQ-Net at: http://www.eprc-strath.eu/iqnet
This 48th edition of the conference gathered regional and national Structural Funds programme authorities from 12 EU Member States and the European Commission to discuss Programme Management in a Time of Crisis and New Financial Management Options. The first session of the conference focused on experiences with the 2014-20 programmes and the preparation for the 2021-27 programmes in the context of the COVID-19. Rona Michie of EPRC presented the paper ‘When it rains, it pours: Programme management in a time of crisis’. Discussions during the session addressed current COVID-19 crisis response mechanisms from the European Commission and the programme managers, progress in programme implementation and capacity-building, and constraints and uncertainties on future planning (e.g. territorial and financial instruments).
The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin [ People & Society - Winter 2020, Issue No.7 ]
22
HaSS IMPACT PRIZES SHOWCASE Alliance, CELCIS and The Care Inspectorate. The collaboration continues to grow and the full list of partners can be found at www.standupforsiblings.co.uk. Together we have been campaigning for changes in law, policy and welfare practices. What has changed as a result of the project?
Prize: Outstanding impact for Policy Winner: Dr Chris Jones, School of Social Work & Social Policy
Promoting the right to family life of siblings in public care Why is your project important for society? In 2014 I started to develop a body of research focusing on sibling relationships of children in care. Sibling relationships can have a particular salience in families where abuse or neglect is part of the family experience yet these are often deprioritized when children come into care. With a grant from the Sir Halley Stewart Trust I undertook a study of siblings involved in the Children’s Hearings System and a group of children moving into permanent placements such as adoption. This was done in partnership with Dr Gillian Henderson of Scottish Children’s Reporters Administration and Dr Ruth Woods of Robert Gordon University. Our study found high levels of sibling estrangement experienced by children in care. These were described as significant losses by young people and had an impact on wellbeing and sense of identity as children were growing up. The analysis also showed that estrangement increased over time despite state involvement in children’s lives and attention to their welfare. Estrangement was particularly a risk for those moving into permanent placements. Throughout the study we strengthened links with a number of agencies with a shared interest in this problem. In 2018 we cofounded Stand Up For Siblings (SUFS), a collaborative partnership which includes, as well as University of Strathclyde and SCRA, Who Cares? Scotland, Clan Childlaw, Adoption and Fostering
We have been successful in influencing in three key areas. Firstly, we have influenced the legal reform of the Family Justice Modernisation Strategy and the Children (Scotland) Act. Following a campaign to bring this issue to the attention of Ministers, Maree Todd MSP, Minister for Children and Young People announced at our conference held in march 2019 to mark the first anniversary of the establishment of SUFS, that the Scottish Government intended to strengthen the legal duty on local authorities to promote sibling relationships of children in care through the new Children (Scotland) Bill. We have since successfully lobbied for robust wording within the new Bill to ensure that children’s sibling relationships are recognised and promoted when decisions are made in legal and professional contexts. Evidence submitted by SUFS partners as part of the development of the Children (Scotland) Bill has been widely cited in subsequent Scottish Government publications and quoted in debates in the Scottish Parliament. Secondly, we have contributed to the work of the Independent Care Review in Scotland. Our original research was presented to the review team at the Discovery stage and SUFS was then invited to take a place on the Review’s STOP:GO working group. Sibling relationships is one of the major themes taken up by the Review. The Destination stage report adopts the specific recommendations put forward by SUFS to promote and protect sibling relationships of children in care. Thirdly, we have been successful in influencing the work of a range of practitioners across the UK. SUFS is working in partnership with Children’s Hearings Scotland to pilot a new approach to Hearings that focuses on children’s sibling relationships. The key practice guidance for social workers on assessing sibling relationships produced by CoramBAAF has now been updated and we have contributed to a series of launch events of this in England and Scotland. SUFS has been approached by a consortium of organisations in Wales, supported by the Welsh Children’s Commissioner, wishing to promote similar legal and practice developments within Wales.
HaSS Research Impact Prizes Showcase
23 HaSS impact prizes showcase continued
How did you work with your project partners in achieving this impact?
Where to next- how will you follow up? What else needs to change?
SUFS have used multiple strategies to influence policy and the law. Siblings Reunited (STAR), a SUFS partner agency that supports contact between separated siblings in care, has been highly successful in engaging MSPs from across the political spectrum allowing them to undertake site visits and meet the children benefitting from this unique service. This has had the effect of humanising the research evidence and professional expertise that we provide to Ministers and has resulted in cross-party support for changes in the law. We have engaged directly with Maree Todd MSP, Minister for Children and Young People, and her advisors offering an analysis of the policy/ practice problem and constructive suggestions about short and long term changes that can be made. SUFS have submitted written submissions at all stages of the passage of Children (Scotland) Bill and partners have been invited to provided evidence to the Justice Committee at stage one of the Bill. An extensive programme of research dissemination and knowledge exchange has been implemented by SUFS to influence professional practice across the UK. We have developed a website which has specific pages for young people in care and professionals and links to partners’ websites and social media channels. We have engaged face-to-face with more than 1,000 legal and welfare practitioners in the four nations of the UK including lawyers, Children’s Panel members, Care Inspectorate personnel, social workers, foster carers, permanence panel members. At these events participants are encouraged to make public pledges to act as change agents within their professional context. We have also taken opportunities to develop small tests of change with professional groups wishing to develop specific areas of practice.
The legal changes that will be enacted in 2021 are very important but alone will not be enough to guarantee improved experiences and outcomes for siblings in care. A substantial shift in culture and practice is also needed. Our immediate concerns are ensuring that the statutory guidance that accompanies the new Children (Scotland) Act provides a strong framework for practice and that professionals and carers are supported to achieve the outcomes they aspire towards for siblings in care.
We rely on partners continuously scanning the horizon to bring opportunities for influence to the group’s attention and championing the issue in their day to day contact with colleagues in strategic or operational roles.
Intergenerational Mentoring Network
Were there any challenges in achieving this impact and how did you overcome these? One of the challenges we faced was the need to be responsive and timely as opportunities presented themselves to influence law, policy and practice. To do this successfully we met regularly to ensure we developed a consistent analysis of the problem and set of potential solutions. Sometimes this meant being honest about differences as well as similarities in the positions held by organisations on certain issues.
Prize: Outstanding impact for Society Winners: Dr Katie Hunter, Kumund Gillies, Dr Alastair Wilson, School of Education
Why is your project important for society? Intergenerational Mentoring Network was established to address and understand the complex cultural and social factors that hinder children and young peoples’ learning through the education system. Over the past decade, our research has allowed us to work closely with educational practitioners and local communities to develop innovative forms of intervention. Our work supports children and young people from working class and poor backgrounds and is able to evidence a positive impact on educational attainment and progression.
The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin [ People & Society - Winter 2020, Issue No.7 ]
24 HaSS impact prizes showcase continued
The fundamental aspect of our work is helping to form relationships within and across communities. Our networks of mentors have built invaluable relationships with children supporting early experiences of learning and with young people, supporting transitions to Higher education and the professions. Our work is varied and developing but two main strands form the core of our current activity. In our Higher Education focused programme IMN mentors, who are mainly retired professionals, have supported S5/6-year school-based mentees to achieve their educational and career aspirations. Decision-making about academic subjects, university courses and careers can be a difficult process, particularly when the young people have fewer professional networks to source ideas and advice than their more socioeconomically advantaged peers. Many of the young people we support are the first generation to enter higher education from their families. Our more recent work in primary schools has been to develop the ‘Help our Child Learn to Read Project’ in which mentors are trained to work individually with children supporting literacy and numeracy development. Our main impact is creating relationships that have a positive effect on the lives of children, young people and volunteer mentors. Seeing a young person progress into university and then into a career or supporting a child to gain confidence with reading are reasons our mentors enjoy and support the project. We believe our work has been particularly useful in three further ways: •
•
•
It has helped develop and illuminate ways of collaboratively progressing innovative practice based on a process of research with development. It has been able to translate theoretical explanations for inequality focused on social and cultural capital into new forms of practice. It has increased our understanding of widening participation and institutional processes that can impact on progression into higher education.
What has changed as a result of the project? We hope to effect change in two key directions – in the lives of those that engage with our projects and in the advancement of understanding of inequality and how it impacts on education. Research within the project recognises that Intergenerational mentors provide ongoing, supportive, mentoring relationships that are able to respond to a range of emergent, often challenging circumstances. They play a significant role in helping young people overcome their practical and emotional needs throughout an unfamiliar and at times daunting process. The impact on the lives of both mentors and mentees has, for some, been life changing as friendships have emerged. Many of our mentors are still in touch with the young people they were introduced to and have continued to support them through their academic journeys and into careers. For the young people, increasing their networks has provided them with a range of opportunities to support entry into their chosen university courses and careers previously unavailable. For the schools and communities in which we work, we are beginning to see young people progressing into professional fields such as dentistry, law, medicine and engineering. How did you work with your project partners in achieving this impact? Our project began in collaboration with Liz Ervine the headteacher at Springburn Academy. As researchers we explored the need and potential impact of one-to-one intergenerational mentoring as an educational/social intervention to widen participation into higher education (HE). To support the overall development of our work we have gained a lot from understanding the young people’s experience of the project and we have learnt a lot from our mentors who provide regular feedback on their mentoring activities. We have also drawn on expertise from within the university, local schools, councils and Third Sector to strengthen our work, particularly as we progress work in primary schools. Professor Sue Ellis and Dr Viv Smith have provided training to our mentors around inclusive approaches to understanding children’s development in literacy. We are also currently working with Dr Lio Moscardini who has been involved in developing a pilot to support mentors on inclusive education related to numeracy.
HaSS Research Impact Prizes Showcase
25 HaSS impact prizes showcase continued
A number of local councils have drawn on the research and development work of the team to inform practice. Our partnership with Glasgow City Council (GCC) involved working closely with partner schools. This process was formalised by a secondment of a GCC member of staff to be the project administrator. This partnership has been added to by the appointment of Liz Ervine as widening participation ambassador for GCC and as a visiting research fellow within our unit in the School of Education. In addition we have also advised Third sector organisations interested in establishing similar mentoring programmes. A key aspect of our impact is helping others understand our work – in this respect our website is important not just for the practicalities of recruitment of mentors but as a forum to inform and promote our work. We have used film and social media to help progress this and a secure mentor only area within the website allows us to run training and provide other forms of mentor information and support.
Where to next- how will you follow up? What else needs to change? We hope to expand our networks and take a broader community focus going forward. Our aim is to work more meaningfully with families, schools as well as local community-based groups to further address the cultural and social issues underlying the educational inequalities that persist in Glasgow, throughout Scotland and beyond. The global pandemic has set challenges for us all; we will reassess the way we work to ensure we continue to make an ongoing positive impact on children and young people.
Were there any challenges in achieving this impact and how did you overcome these? The innovative nature of this work at times makes it difficult to secure funding. We have worked hard to nurture ideas into small projects that could illustrate impact and then be in a position to secure more substantive support. Our unique combination of research and development work incurs significant cost. Recognition is needed by different funders of the cost of research and development work. Funding of recruitment, screening and good volunteer support for example is invaluable. A good mentor coordinator can liaise with volunteers, schools, young people and organisations in the wider community. This time is something that school staff members can support but is not achievable within their remits. In 2017 we established a community interest company (CIC) to help us secure different sources of funding and secure the continuity of our project work. The CIC is an independent nonprofit organisation supported by the University. We employ mentor coordinators who work in partnership with school and communities. The CIC has also taken forward the initial research and development work and enabled its engagement with schools/communities in Scotland and across the UK.
Prize: Outstanding impact for Society ‘Runner Up’: Dr Petya Eckler, School of Humanities
Healthy Social Media: Supporting a Better Online Experience for Young People Why is your project important for society? Social media is an important influence on young people, as they spend hours each day on various digital platforms and apps. There, young people build their digital personas, find like-minded people, and consume various types of content, often related to the body. While much of this behaviour is seen as fun and harmless, and it often is, it can also be the exact opposite. Idealised images on digital platforms may trigger unrealistic comparisons and expectations, which can affect young people’s body image, and in turn their health, selfesteem, social life and more.
The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin [ People & Society - Winter 2020, Issue No.7 ]
26 HaSS impact prizes showcase continued
That is why, it’s important to work with young people to construct a more sustainable and healthy experience online, which is both fun and reassuring, which builds on their strengths and reflects their uniqueness, and which eases up societal pressure on how they perceive themselves. What has changed as a result of the project? I’ve worked to affect change on three levels: on health professionals who work with young people, on young people themselves, and on policy. The multiple talks I’ve held with young people in the past few years have inspired many to realise how spending time on social media affects them personally as well as their friends. Many participants have commented that they’ve become more aware of their online activities and planning to monitor them more closely. Many also engaged for the first time in critical appraisal of the bodies they see in the media and how those fit very narrow definitions of beauty. I have also engaged actively with health professionals who work with young people, primarily psychiatrists, psychologists, councillors, etc. The changes in these groups came from the realisation about the huge role social media plays in young people’s mental health. Many of them have stated that they would be including the topic of social media in their discussions with patients. On the policy side, I’ve been part of three different advisory groups, which have consulted on the development of training materials for schools about good body image, on the use of digital apps for image manipulation, and have created a report for Scottish Government on good body image among young people. The government is expected to review and at upon our recommendations once the Covid19 pandemic allows for that to happen.
Were there any challenges in achieving this impact and how did you overcome these? My biggest challenge is balancing impact events with other responsibilities and also maintaining ongoing project activities and not allowing them to ease off. I am not sure that I have overcome yet the first challenge, as these additional pursuits naturally will require additional time from me. But I try to be more efficient in these tasks. The second challenge of maintaining ongoing activities is a tough one, as it’s very easy to go off track and to forget about them over a long period of time. One solution I have found is getting help from others. This year, I have attracted two psychology students to do their placement class on the project and create content for the project website. They will be learning a lot about translating research to lay audiences, strategic communication and effective writing, and I’ll be receiving the much-needed help in content creation. Where to next- how will you follow up? What else needs to change? I want to focus more on working with health professionals in recognising the enormous influence social media has on their young patients. Right now psychiatrists who see patients with eating disorders focus on their eating and other behaviours, but fail to recognise that these behaviours may be influenced by social media too. I also want to expand the role of our project website and build an audience of professionals and young people. The road to changing how we see our bodies and how we talk about them in the public domain and in private life is a long and difficult one and depends on various individual changes and larger improvements in policy, media and social norms. I hope that my work will continue to contribute to this ultimate goal.
How did you work with your project partners in achieving this impact? My biggest project partner is the Mental Health Foundation— Scotland, with whom we’ve organised joint events and written a follow-up report, and also collaborated on the advisory group to Scottish Government. I have also worked with NHS, YoungScot and others to deliver training for various professional groups. I’ve always enjoyed working with partners outside academia, as the dynamic is very different from academic work and much closer to my professional background. The close relationships with these partners were vital for the success of this project and the many invitations for events and trainings I’ve received through the years.
HaSS Research Impact Prizes Showcase
27
CHRISTMAS TOYS APPEAL We are a group of third year business students organising Strathclyde’s Christmas Toy Appeal this year. The appeal is still going ahead, but with some slight changes. Unfortunately, we will only be accepting cash donations instead of presents. We will then buy presents and distribute them around Glasgow to children who are in need and who, without these donations, might experience Christmas without receiving a present. If you would like to donate, please use the link below: https://onlineshop.strath.ac.uk/product-catalogue/student-experience/ widening-access/christmas-toy-appeal-2020 You can also stay up to date on the appeal through our social channels! strathtoyappeal2020 Strathclyde Toy Appeal strathtoyappeal Thank you and if you have any questions, feel free to contact us! The Strathclyde Christmas Toy Appeal Team
The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin [ People & Society - Winter 2020, Issue No.7 ]
Do you have a research story to feature in the next issue? Submit a ‘New story’ through Sharepoint or email: hass-marketing@strath.ac.uk