Category / Women’s Academic Network

New research paper published by PhD student Hina Tariq

PhD student Hina Tariq, currently undertaking the Clinical Academic Doctorate program at the Department of Social Sciences and Social Work (SSSW), published a new paper titled, “The Delphi of ORACLE: An Expert Consensus Survey for the Development of the Observational Risk Assessment of Contractures (Longitudinal Evaluation)” Open Access in the journal of Clinical Rehabilitation.
This paper is co-authored by her academic supervisors, Professor Sam Porter and Dr Kathryn Collins, her former academic supervisor, Dr Desiree Tait and her clinical supervisor, Joel Dunn (Dorset Healthcare University Foundation NHS Trust).

Summary: This paper used the Delphi method to provide expert consensus on items to be included in a contracture risk assessment tool (ORACLE). The items were related to factors associated with joint contractures, appropriate preventive care interventions, and potentially relevant contextual factors associated with care home settings. The promise of a risk assessment tool that includes these items has the capacity to reduce the risk of contracture development or progression and to trigger timely and appropriate referrals to help prevent further loss of function and independence.

The paper has already crossed over 250 reads. The full text can be accessed by following this link: The Delphi of ORACLE: An Expert Consensus Survey for the Development of the Observational Risk Assessment of Contractures (Longitudinal Evaluation)

 

New article by BU Social Work academics

Congratulations to Drs. Louise Oliver and Orlanda Harvey  who had their latest article published in the British Association of Social Workers magazine. The article is titled: The seven-eyed social worker: a tool for critical self-reflection”. This article is about how a supervision model, developed by Hawkins and Shohet, which focuses upon the relationship between the service user/client and the social worker. The two BU academics noted that “This model supports critical reflection, delving into the use of self when working with others. It promotes professional curiosity, which is at the heart of critical reflection”. This gives an alternative lens and approach to social work practice.
Well done!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

Congratulations to Prof. Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

Congratulations to Sara Ashencaen Crabtree, Professor of Social and Cultural Diversity, on the publication of her latest book An Historiography of Women’s Missionary Nursing Through the Lives of Two Sisters: Doing the Lord’s work in Kenya and South India (published by Routledge).

This book employs both ethnographic and secondary, archival data, drawing on a rich, fascinating trove of original material from the pre-1940s to the present day.  It offers a unique historiographic study of twentieth century Methodist missionary work and women’s active expression of faith, practised at the critical confluence of historical and global changes. The study focuses on two English Methodist missionary nursing Sisters and siblings, Audrey and Muriel Chalkely, whose words and experiences are captured in detail, foregrounding tumultuous socio-political changes of the end of Empire and post-Independence in twentieth century Kenya and South India.

This work presents a timely revision to prevailing postcolonial critiques in placing the fundamental importance of human relationships centre stage. Offering a detailed (auto)biographical and reflective narrative, this ‘herstory’ pivots on three main thematic strands relating to peopleplace and passion, where socio-cultural details are vividly explored. 

This book pays tribute to our former colleague, Professor Fran Biley.  As part of a wider oral history project entitled “Memories of Nursing” Fran Biley interviewed two British sisters who had retired to the South of England.  The two sisters, Muriel and Audrey, followed very similar missionary career paths in two different former British colonies.  Two sisters spent a total of 54 years working as Methodist missionaries in India and Kenya, one as a nurse, the other as a midwife.  Fran collected over 10 hours of interview data, as well as old videos, a suitcase of 35mm slides, albums full of old photographs, letters and personal papers from the two sisters.   Unfortunately, Fran died far too young in November 2012, before the rich data could be analysed.  Sara conducted further extensive interviews with Muriel and others who knew them, as well as undertaking a huge detective hunt to find a considerable amount of secondary data pertaining to the sisters and other Methodist missionaries across UK archives.  I am glad to be able to report that  Dr Muriel Chalkley, whose life is portrayed in the book, received an Honorary Doctorate from Bournemouth University in recognition of her services to nursing.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’ Health (CMWH)

 

Writing some blurb

Publisher Routledge announced the forthcoming edited volume Menstruation in Nepal: Dignity Without Danger, which is edited by Sara ParkerMadhusudan Subedi and Kay Standing. This book examines the complexities of menstrual beliefs and practices in Nepal. Taking an interdisciplinary and intersectional approach, it explores and promotes the rights of women, girls and people who menstruate, to a dignified and healthy menstruation.  I had the honour of being asked to write some of the blurb for this exciting book.  Partly, because of our wide-range of health services and health promotion research in the country and partly because of our previous paper on reusable sanitary towels in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake in Nepal [1].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

 

Reference:

  1. Budhathoki, S.S., Bhattachan, M., Pokharel, P.K., Bhadra, M., van Teijlingen, E. (2017) Reusable sanitary towels: Promoting menstrual hygiene in post-earthquake Nepal. Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 43(2): 157-159.

Collaborative midwifery paper cited 40 times

Two days ago ResearchGate informed us that that the paper ‘Midwifery-led antenatal care models: mapping a systematic review to an evidence-based quality framework to identify key components and characteristics of care‘ has reached 40 citations.  This paper, co-authored by Bournemouth University’s Professors Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen, was originally published in 2016 in BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth [1]. Both Vanora and Edwin are based in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH) in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences.

The same team wrote a separate paper the following year on ‘Antenatal care trial interventions: a systematic scoping review and taxonomy development of care models’ [2].  Interestingly, ResearchGate tells us this paper has been read fewer times and cited ‘only’ 21 times to date.

 

 

 

 

 

Reference:

  1. Symon, A., Pringle, J, Cheyne, H, Downe, S., Hundley, V, Lee, E, Lynn, F., McFadden, A, McNeill, J., Renfrew, M., Ross-Davie, M., van Teijlingen, E., Whitford, H, Alderdice, F. (2016) Midwifery-led antenatal care models: Mapping a systematic review to evidence-based quality framework to identify key components & characteristics of care, BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 16:168 http://rdcu.be/uifu
  2. Symon, A., Pringle, J., Downe, S, Hundley, V., Lee, E., Lynn, F, McFadden, A, McNeill, J, Renfrew, M., Ross-Davie, M., van Teijlingen, E., Whitford, H., Alderdice, F. (2017) Antenatal care trial interventions: a systematic scoping review & taxonomy development of care models BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 17:8 http://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-016-1186-3

New book about EDI in health and biomed research careers is out!

Dr Ola Thomson of BUBS, People and Organisations, is pleased to announce her new book: “Nurturing equality, diversity and inclusion: Support for research careers in health and biomedicine”. The book is available as open access which means you can read it free of charge via Bristol University Press (Policy Press) – link here: https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/nurturing-equality-diversity-and-inclusion.

You can also order a hard copy of the book with 50% off until 21 January using code JAN50 at the checkout.

The book is co-authored with Prof. Rachael Gooberman-Hill of the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research at the University of Bristol. The volume provides an overview of the state of EDI in research careers in health and biomedicine in the UK, and offers innovative organisational and individual strategies to nurture diversity in research institutions.

Today’s academic and research institutions recognise the importance of diverse research teams in health and biomedical science, in terms of the business case, social justice and the common good. This ‘go-to’ book familiarises readers with the key equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) issues in relation to research careers and researcher development. Bringing together the challenges and solutions to EDI matters with an evidence-based approach in one volume, the book offers practical strategies and interventions for academic and research settings. This is an essential guide for equality planning team members, researchers, HRM officers and managers across academia and research.

Congratulations to BU sociology professors

Congratulations to Professors  Sara Ashencaen Crabtree and Jonathan Parker on the publication  of their book chapter ‘Social work with children and human rights’ in the edited collection Change Agents: An interprofessional book about children with disabilities in Tanzania and Norway [1]

The chapter explores human rights in social work with children, based on cases from several countries in the world. Human rights and social justice differ across countries and cultures. This is complicated further in respect of children who are dependent and as a result potentially vulnerable. This chapter discusses the balance between protection of the child versus allowing the child to be exposed to “risky” situations and develops a model for complex human rights social work with children.

The book also has a chapter by former BU staff member Prof. Sarah Hean, who is currently linked with the University of Stavanger in Norway.
Congratulations on this Open Access publication!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Reference:

Parker, J. &  Ashencaen Crabtree, S. (2023)  Social work with children and human rights, In: Change Agents: An interprofessional book about children with disabilities in Tanzania and Norway, Siv E. N. Sæbjørnsen, Mariana J. Makuu& Atle Ødegård (Editors),  Scandinavian University Press, pp.55-75. 

Mismatched Expectations & The Impact of Eastern Europeanism

On Tuesday 12th September BU’s Women’s Academic Network is hosting an online talk by Dr Sara Jones and Dr Natalia Kogut from the University of Birmingham. Dr Jones and Dr Kought will be sharing preliminary findings from their research on mismatched expectations and the impact of “Eastern Europeanism” on the experiences of displaced Ukrainian women in UK.

For more information, and to sign up to attend, please follow the link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mismatched-expectations-the-impact-of-eastern-europeanism-tickets-689148891887?aff=oddtdtcreator

Background information:

After the start of the war in Ukraine, a significant number of Ukrainian refugees came to Britain, most through the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme that matched refugees with British hosts. They were given shelter and access to social services; however, they faced a number of unexpected challenges in their life in the UK. This paper explores those challenges in the context of Britain as a “post-Cold War” space (Chari and Verdery, 2009). In particular, it considers how “three worlds ideology” continues to impact on British attitudes towards migrants and refugees from Central, East and Southeast Europe and the ways in which Ukrainians encounter life in the UK. The talk is based on a series of narrative interviews with Ukrainians living in the UK and Kogut’s own experience as a Ukrainian fleeing war. On the one hand, there is recognition among the interview participants that refugees from Ukraine have been privileged in comparison to those coming from countries once considered in the “third world”, and that there is a sense of the “closeness” of the UK and Ukraine as European countries. Yet, on the other, interviewees report how they were confronted with an understanding of them as residents of a backward or “second world” country with little to offer – a form of prejudice that has been termed “Eastern Europeanism” (Kalmar, 2022). In turn, the UK’s sense of itself as a “first world”, developed country, is frequently called into question by Ukrainian encounters with the UK’s systems and services, including poor access to medical services, lack of social housing and shortage of school places. We will introduce our policy report Support for Displaced Ukrainians – The Role of History and Stereotypes, including our recommendations for those seeking to support Ukrainians in the areas of work/benefits, housing and hosting, healthcare and language. Speaker Biographies Sara Jones is Professor of Modern Languages at the University of Birmingham. Her research focuses on the cultural, social and political processes of memory, especially memory of socialism and post-socialism in Germany and Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. She is author of three monographs, most recently Towards a Collaborative Memory: German Memory Work in a Transnational Context (Berghahn, 2022). She is currently Principal Investigator for the AHRC-funded project Post-Socialist Britain? Memory, Representation and Political Identity amongst German, Polish and Ukrainian Immigrants in the UK. Natalia Kogut is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Birmingham, working on the projects Post-Socialist Britain? Memory, Representation and Political Identity amongst German, Polish and Ukrainian Immigrants in the UK and Futures of Ukraine: Youth, Mobility and Post-War Reconstruction. Natalia holds a PhD in Law from the Institute of State and Law, V. Korezkiy of NAS (Ukraine). Natalia’s research interests include the human right to life and health, healthcare systems, ecological law, migrants’ rights, and historical memory of migrants. She is a specialist in human rights, right to health, and comparative analyse of health care systems.

For related readings please see this link

INRC seminar by Dr Jie Sui, Friday the 8th of September at 14.00 h, Share Lecture Theatre (Fusion).

We want to draw your attention to a seminar organized by the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre on this Friday, the 8th of September, from 14:00 h to 15:00 h at the Share Lecture Theatre (Fusion Building). There will be a networking event after the talk with coffee and biscuits.

Our guest speaker is Dr. Jie Sui (University of Aberdeen), invited by Dr. Ellen Seiss. Prof Dr Sui is renowned for her studies investigating the unique self, self-representation, and social interactions in VR. Her research combines multiple neural recording modalities, such as EEG and fMRI, with computational modelling.

The title of this exciting talk is: “Understanding the Self: Prospects for Translation”. Please find the abstract below.

We warmly invite you to attend this seminar.

Kind regards,

Ellen and Emili, on behalf of all of us.

Abstract:

“An understanding of the self helps explain not only human thoughts, feelings, and attitudes but also many aspects of everyday behaviours. This talk focuses on a particular perspective on self-processes. This perspective highlights the dynamics of the self that best connects with the development of the self over time and its realist orientation. We are using psychological experiments and data mining to comprehend the stability and flexibility of the self in different populations.

In this talk, I integrate experimental psychology, associative learning theory, computational neuroscience, and machine learning approaches to demonstrate why and how self-association affects cognition and how it is modulated by various social experiences and situational factors.”

INRC seminar by Dr Jie Sui, Friday the 8th of September at 14.00 h, Share Lecture Theatre (Fusion).

We want to draw your attention to a seminar organized by the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre on Friday, the 8th of September, from 14:00 h to 15:00 h at the Share Lecture Theatre (Fusion Building). There will be a networking event after the talk with coffee and biscuits.

Our guest speaker is Dr. Jie Sui (University of Aberdeen), invited by Dr. Ellen Seiss. Prof Dr Sui is renowned for her studies investigating the unique self, self-representation, and social interactions in VR. Her research combines multiple neural recording modalities, such as EEG and fMRI, with computational modelling.

The title of this exciting talk is: “Understanding the Self: Prospects for Translation”. Please find the abstract below.

We warmly invite you to attend this seminar.

Kind regards,

Ellen and Emili, on behalf of all of us.

Abstract:

“An understanding of the self helps explain not only human thoughts, feelings, and attitudes but also many aspects of everyday behaviours. This talk focuses on a particular perspective on self-processes. This perspective highlights the dynamics of the self that best connects with the development of the self over time and its realist orientation. We are using psychological experiments and data mining to comprehend the stability and flexibility of the self in different populations.

In this talk, I integrate experimental psychology, associative learning theory, computational neuroscience, and machine learning approaches to demonstrate why and how self-association affects cognition and how it is modulated by various social experiences and situational factors.”

Broadening horizons: Network Science at Utrecht Summer School

We are thrilled to announce that Assemgul Kozhabek, one of our  PhD candidates, recently had the opportunity to participate in the Utrecht Summer School on “Data Science: Network Science” from July 10-14, 2023. Assemgul’s research, under the guidance of Dr. Wei Koong Chai, is centered around understanding and optimizing urban road networks. By attending this course, she was able to gain a deeper understanding of network science and its relevance to her research goals. The course covered various topics, including network modeling, analysis techniques, and practical application of network science in real-world scenarios.
The Utrecht Summer School provided Assemgul with a unique learning experience. Through interactive lectures, hands-on workshops, and networking opportunities with experts in the field, she was able to broaden her knowledge and enhance her skills in analyzing urban road networks. She expresses her gratitude to Dr. Wei Koong Chai for his support and guidance throughout this journey. Assemgul also immensely grateful for the OpenBright Award that made this opportunity possible.
Assemgul’s participation in the Utrecht Summer School on “Data Science: Network Science” has undoubtedly equipped her with valuable insights and tools that will contribute to her ongoing research. Stay tuned for exciting updates on her research journey!