Category / Social Work and Social Policy

Violence Against and Women and Girls: Social Justice in Action Conference – 29 June

conferences, Fusion, Knowledge Exchange

A chance to showcase your Research

Dear all,

We are holding a conference at BU: Violence Against and Women and Girls: Social Justice in Action Conference – Event Date: 29 June at BGB, Lansdowne.

The Soroptimist International Bournemouth and Bournemouth University are facilitating a conference with the focus upon Violence Against Women and Girls. The aim of the day is to raise awareness of issues relating to violence against women and girls, bringing together diverse professionals, NGOs, charities and interested others to share knowledge, explore limitations and seek solutions to sustain social justice. This event is open to all those who are engaged in working with Violence Against Women and Girls and those who care about reducing this global injustice.

At the event in the lunch room we will be running an automated PowerPoint presentation, where we hope to showcase BU research that is relevant to the professional audience.

This is open to all BU academics and PGRs – and all you need is for your research to be relevant to the intended audience it does not have to be focused on the main conference topic.

If you would like to showcase your work to this audience, please send a PowerPoint slide to Orlanda Harvey by 26th June 2023.

Please do pass this opportunity on to colleagues across the University


The Impact of the Cost-of-Living Crisis on Carers

On 5th June, the first day of carers week 2023, six carers from Dorset met for the first time and shared experiences of the effect of the cost-of-living crisis on their caring role. During the previous two weeks, each carer had taken photographs to capture the impact the cost-of living crisis was having on them, and their caring role.

A huge thank you to Moonmoon, Kim, Aiden,Jason, Katya, and Lesley for all your most generous contributions to this project so far, and for sharing your important experience, insight, and expertise.

Using the qualitative research method of photovoice and working in partnership with the carers, this Bournemouth University project in collaboration with Bournemouth University PIER (Public Involvement in Education and Research) Partnership will translate these experiences of caring during the cost-of-living crisis into actionable knowledge, a call for change and to identify future research priorities.

At the workshop, facilitated by Professor Lee-Ann Fenge (Professor of Social Care) and Dr Kate Jupp (PIER Officer), and supported by co-researchers Pete Atkins (PIER Officer) and Angela Skeparovska (student research assistant) each carer shared the story and meaning behind each of their five chosen photographs; the photographs being the catalyst for the stories that emerged.

The workshop was incredibly powerful, and the images, and the experiences, thoughts, and feelings they represented were both hard to hear and important to share.  Experience of homelessness, insolvency, losing the family home, using foodbanks, soup kitchens, community pantry and searching through bins for food were all shared. The hidden costs of health appointments, additional energy use for laundry and cooking to meet special dietary requirements were highlighted. Each of the carers shared how the current guidance to reduce energy consumption in the home was often in conflict with meeting the needs of the person being cared for. Underlying all these experiences was the personal cost of, and personal losses associated with caring. The carers articulated clearly and repeatedly the amplifying effect the cost-of-living crisis was having on their own well-being and the quality of life they were able provide for the person they were caring for.

The carers reported how important it was for them to share their stories and to be amongst others who understood. One carer reported “feeling lighter” when they left, and another said they “felt the session was rewarding and (they were) glad to have shared some insight of our support of loved ones”. All six expressed the wish to continue with this project.

The following images were taken from the 30 images shared during the workshop.

The first images captured the feelings and experience of being “completely overwhelmed” whilst falling further and further into debt:

This image is of food salvaged from a private dustbin on a driveway. The carer went on to explain the choice they subsequently faced, whether or not to toast the cheese, using energy on the grill, in an attempt to reduce the risk of food poisoning.

 

Dr Kate Jupp, PIER Officer: kejupp@bournemouth.ac.uk
Public Involvement in Education and Research (PIER) Partnership: www.bournemouth.ac.uk/pier

BU Workshop on Health Systems in Nepal

open access, writing

You are invited to a two-hour ‘Workshop on Health Systems in Nepal’ at Bournemouth University (BU) on Thursday 25th May in the Bournemouth Gateway Building (BGB room 315) starting at 14.00, aiming to finish at 16.00.  We have the pleasure of welcoming three academic visitors from Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Kathmandu who are at BU on an Erasmus+ exchange.

‘Prof. Sujan Marahatta, Dr. Sujata Sapkota and Dr. Sujan Gautam from MMIHS are part of an international project examining the consequences for the health system of Nepal’s move to a federal government structure.  This project, launched in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, is led by the University of Sheffield, in collaboration with BU, the University of Huddersfield, PHASE Nepal and MMIHS.  This nearly four-year project is UK-funded by the MRC (Medical Research Council), the Wellcome Trust and DFID (now called Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office [FCDO]) under the Health Systems Research Initiative.

The project has resulted in several publications, all in Open Access journals.  The first of three papers introduced the research project ‘The impact of federalisation on Nepal’s health system: a longitudinal analysis’ [1], the second focused on COVID-19 when examining the effects of changing Nepal’s constitution towards a federal republic on its health system [2], and the third one highlighted  Public Health approaches around the ongoing federalisation of the state of Nepal and the associated decentralisation processes in its health system [3].

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (formerly CMMPH)

 

References:

  1. Sapkota, S., Panday, S., Wasti, S.P., Lee, A., Balen, J., van Teijlingen, E., Rushton, S., Subedi, M., Gautam, S., Karki, J., Adhikary, P., Marahatta, S., Simkhada, P. for the Nepal Federal Health System Team (2022) Health System Strengthening: The Role of Public Health in Federal Nepal, Journal of Nepal Public Health Association 7 (1): 36-42.
  2. Rushton, S., Pandey, S., van Teijlingen, E., Subedi, M., Balen, J., Karki, J., Simkhada, P. on behalf of the Nepal Federal Health System Team (2021) An Investigation into the Impact of Decentralization on the Health System of Nepal. Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 7(1): 3–14. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v7i1.43146
  3. Adhikary, P., Balen, J., Gautam, S., Ghimire S., Karki J.K., Lee A.C., Marahatta S.B., Pandey S., Pohl G., Ruston S., Sapkota S., Simkhada P.P., Subedi M., van Teijlingen E.R., on behalf of the NFHS Team (2020) The COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal: Emerging evidence on the effectiveness of action by, and cooperation between, different levels of government in a federal system. Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences 3(3)

Knowledge Exchange BU Workshop Supporting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Dorset

Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

On May 19, BU researchers in the Centre for Comparative Politics and Media Research | Bournemouth University, Alina Dolea, Tabitha Baker and Dawid Pekalski, are organizing an interactive knowledge exchange workshop with local stakeholders to facilitate sharing of experiences and best practices in supporting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Dorset.

Academics researching issues of displacement and forced migration across BU will be joined by representatives from Dorset Council, BCP Council, Citizen advice, Public Health Dorset, International Care Network, British Red Cross, Migrant Help UK, Dorset Race Equality Council, as well as other local groups and stakeholders.

One objective of the workshop is to understand the dimensions of displacement and migration in the BCP and Dorset area, mapping the programs run, but also the issues faced by the councils and the different organisations in their work with refugees, asylum seekers and other migrant communities. Another objective is to understand, also from the beneficiaries’ perspective, their needs, gaps and current issues they are facing. Together we aim to get to know more about each other’s work, discuss and reflect on the national and local policies, programs, networks of support and integration that are in place.

Our overall goal for the day is to identify areas of collaborations so that we as academics and researchers can help and actively contribute to the current infrastructure of support and integration. The collaboration can range from volunteering and exploring placement opportunities for our students, co-creating projects, and organizing joint events, to delivering applied workshops and trainings, as well as providing research insights to inform policy making.

More details about the workshop are available here: Supporting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Dorset Tickets, Fri 19 May 2023 at 10:00 | Eventbrite

BU hosting British Society of Criminology’s Hate Crime Network’s annual conference in June

conferences

Dr. Jane Healy, Principal Academic in BU’s Department of Social Science and Social Work is organising a national conference on behalf of the British Society of Criminology’s Hate Crime Network. The conference ‘TRANSforming the Narrative: Challenging Transphobic Hate Crime’ will be held on June 22.  The conference is free, and its aims and mission statement, as well as booking information, can be found on the link: click here!
The British Society of Criminology’s Hate Crime Network’s annual conference will take place at Bournemouth University in 2023. This will be an opportunity to consider the extent of transphobic hate crimes, the experiences of victims, and the responses by criminal justice and voluntary agencies. The conference is free to attend though registration in mandatory!