BU Research Blog | Social work | Bournemouth University

5 September 2016

Women Academics Centre Stage in Presidential Roles in Major International Professional Bodies and Conference Organisation

conferences, Fusion, international, Research themes Lisa Andrews

Women Academics Centre Stage in Presidential Roles in Major International Professional Bodies and Conference Organisation

3^rd International Sociological Association Forum of Sociology

10-14 July2016, University of Vienna, Austria

Professor Ann Brooks

Bournemouth University

This year’s Third ISA was held at the University of Vienna and shortly after Brexit, so I braced myself to face a barrage of jokes and recriminations about the UK vote. Well there was some gentle humour in the plenaries but the response was mainly one of pity. The conference was based in the opulence of the University of Vienna… . With its historical and contemporary position in relation to both European and global sociology this conference attracted 4,000 sociologists from across the globe. I usually find the ISA a somewhat unwieldy conference compared to the BSA and ASA but Research Committtee (RC) 32 Women in Society, has a wonderfully inclusive feel and gave coherence to the entire conference for me (see below). Increasingly some of the best conferences have women centre stage, including the ASA 2015 Conference in Chicago, with the then ASA President, Paula England, and the current ASA President and Chair of the 2016 Program Committee, Ruth Milkman (CUNY –Graduate Centre). The ASA Conference was held in Seattle in August 2016. The current ISA President is Margaret Abraham (Hofstra University, USA) who together with a team at the University of Vienna delivered a conference which did not disappoint.

A series of important and thoughtful plenaries addressed the global dimensions of the conference with the University of Vienna organising team providing an interesting European dimension addressing the Brexit issue. A generally favourable balance was achieved between global and European dimensions. The Opening Plenary featured a number of academics from the University of Vienna and they were clearly delighted at attracting over 5,000 sociologists to this impressive university as the conference base. The Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Vienna, Ulrike Felt, provided an uplifting and impressive summary of the social sciences at the University Vienna and I can see the number of applicants for positions there escalating as a result. It was also great to see governmental support for the social sciences, with Barbara Weitgruber, Director General, Austrian Ministry of Science delivering a very positive statement in support of the social sciences. Margaret Abraham’s ISA Presidential Address, found here:

http://www.isa-sociology.org/forum-2016/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW44_sW4Jmc

was an important statement in equity and intersectionality and made an important contribution to this lively opening Plenary. Margaret is also an important contributor to the ASA Conference, particularly in terms of the International aspects of both conferences.

While the conference lacked the celebrity appeal of the ASA, it certainly did not lack in the seriousness of the debates. One of the most interesting debates came from the closing plenary chaired by Marcus Schultz (New School for Social Research, New York), with Asef Bayat (University of Illinois) ‘Imagining a Post-Islamist Democracy’, Akosua Adomako Ampofo (University of Ghana) ‘Black Lives Matter and the Status of the African World’, Todd Gatlin (Columbia) ‘What Kind of a World Can Weather Climate Change?’ and Alain Touraine (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociales, France), as discussant.

Research Committee (RC) 32 Women in Society

The size of the conference meant that affiliation to specific programs proved a favoured response. I am a member of RC32 Women in Society and the program was widely regarded as one of the best at the conference. The Program Coordinators for RC32, Akosua Adomako Ampofo and Josephine Beoku-Betts (Florida Atlantic) had worked to organise an extensive range of panels and roundtables including: ‘Human Trafficking: The Labour and Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children’; ‘Twenty Years after Beijing: A Cross-National Approach to Feminist Movements and the Implementation of the Platform for Action’; ‘Global Sociology and Feminist Perspectives on Care, Care Work and the Struggle for a Careful World’; ‘Knowledge Production: Feminist Perspectives in the 21^st Century’; ‘Gender, Law and the Courts: Local and Global Struggles Against Violence’; ‘ Intersectionalities of Power in Research: Strategies for Action and Justice’; ‘Gender, Culture and Technologies in the Knowledge Economy’; ‘Muslim Women’s Struggles for a Better World through Promoting Gender Equality’; and ‘The Cities We Want: Using Visionary Methodologies to Create Feminist Alternatives to Urban Planning’. My paper was in the ‘Precarity and Gender in the Era of Neoliberal Globalization’ and I focused on relational precarity as highlighted in the work of Lauren Berlant entitled: ‘Gender, Precarity and Sexuality: The Intersection of Gender, Ethnicity, Sexuality and Class in Relational Precarity in Neoliberal Society–the Influence of Lauren Berlant’. .

The double badging of sessions with RC32 with other RCs was a really valuable dimension of the conference, this was particularly the case for the RC02 Economy and Society led by the Program Coordinator, Heidi Gottfried, which included some excellent sessions including: ‘Gender Regimes or Gendered Institutions’ organised by Sylvia Walby. A particularly interesting session was the ‘Author Meets Critics: Crisis by Sylvia Walby’. Chaired by Heidi Gottfried and with discussants Stephanie Woehl (Vienna) and Christopher Chase-Dunn (California-Riverside). This proved to be one of the most coherent and intense social and political analyses including the focus on the EU and had anticipated Brexit. Sylvia’s response to criticism was powerful and wide-ranging and pointed to the next political crisis being in the EU not the UK. She also calls for a ‘regendering of the political project’.

This was a really fascinating conference, serious in its debates and commemorating the work and loss of John Urry.

Professor Ann Brooks

August 2016

4 August 2016

New Book Published on Our Research with the Indigenous Community of Tasik Chini, Malaysia

Fusion, Women's Academic Network Jonathan Parker

Following from our successful study leave in 2014, Professors Sara Ashencaen Crabtree and Jonathan Parker have published a monograph charting their ethnographic research with the Jakun people, an indigenous community living around the Tasik Chini area of Pahang in Malaysia.
The book Death of the Dragon God Lake: Voices from Tasik Chini published by Malaysian publishers SIRD (Strategic Information and Research Development) and endorsed by the indigenous peoples’ social activist Center for Orang Asli Concerns will be launched at the Festival of First People’s Arts from August 5-8 in Malaysia.
The book offers a critical ethnography analysing the impact of neoliberal modernisation on traditional lifestyles and a reflexive understanding of the path foreign researchers tread in post-colonial societies. It is a cry for social and political justice, humanity and wellbeing.

Jonathan Parker & Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

15 June 2016

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 15th June 2016

elanng

Today is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, a day set aside by the United Nations for governments and civil society worldwide to acknowledge the problem of abuse against some of the oldest and most vulnerable groups across the world.

Despite the Toronto Declaration on the Global Prevention of Elder Abuse (2002) which called for a multi-sector and multi-disciplinary approach to tackle the issue, elder abuse continues to be a global problem affecting the health and impacting on the human rights of millions of older people around the world.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) elder abuse is a subject which is often underestimated and ignored by societies globally. As older populat
ions grow globally, elder abuse is an issue that all societies and governments need to acknowledge and tackle in a proactive way. In 2015 there were 901 million people on earth aged 60 or over; and this is projected to rise to 1.4 billion in 2030 (United Nations [UN] 2015). Due to this rapidly ageing global population elder abuse is predicted to increase. Although it is difficult to measure the scale of the problem due to its often hidden nature, it is estimated that around 1 in 10 older people experience abuse every month.

What is it?
Elder abuse can take various forms such as physical, psychological or emotional, sexual and financial abuse. It can also be the result of intentional or unintention
al neglect, and can occur in institutional settings as well as in the home environment. However, in many parts of the world it is an issue which is often hidden from view and seldom recognised, the voices of victims silenced by ageism and indifference. It results from the wider marginalization, disrespect, and exploitation that older people experience in many societies, and ultimately results in de-humanised care and an absence of human rights for older people.

What can we do?
Globally we need to acknowledge elder abuse as a priority. We need to tackle some of the underlying socio-cultural factors which deny older people status and human rights including inherent ageism and the depiction of older people as frail, weak and dependent. This includes developing awareness of how changing socio-demographic patterns contribute to the shifting context of care and support available to older people in society. For example, global and national economic policies may result in funds to provide health and social care to older citizens not being considered a priority, and the creation of a globally mobile workforce resulting in the erosion of bonds between generations of a family where traditionally younger family members would care for older relatives.

We also need to act on demographic changes, celebrate that many of us are living longer, but acknowledge health and life expectancy inequalities across the UK and globally (Wilkinson and Pickett, 2010, Office of National Statistics, 2016) and work to address these. International interest in using well-being as a measure of social progress (http://www.neweconomics.org/issues/entry/well-being) alters perspectives, making us consider that factors which negatively impact on individual well-being, including the abuse of vulnerable members of society, indicate systemic problems which need systemic solutions such as the introduction of the ‘well-being principle’ to social policy.

The well-being principle underpins the Care Act (2014) and seeks to ensure social care support and services in England and Wales, increase well-being, enabling personal dignity and the exercise of choice and control. This represents human rights, person-centred approach which is strengths rather than deficit based. Its relevance reaches beyond social care and by adopting this stance in our interpersonal as well as professional relationships we can start to address some of the negative stereotypes which are linked to old age and ageing, and which can contribute to de-humanised approaches to care.

Elder abuse should be a topic that we all feel we have a stake in, and as such is in all our interests to tackle.

Dr Lee-Ann Fenge and Sally Lee

References

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2015) World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision. Available from https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/publications/files/key_findings_wpp_2015.pdf [Accessed 13/06/16]

Wilkinson, D. and Pickett, 2010. The Spirit Level. London: Penguin.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies

2 June 2016

Announcement BU Humanisation Conference 2016

Research Integritiy Edwin van Teijlingen

BU Humanisation Conference 21^st June 2016

Venue: Room EB708, Executive Business Centre, 89 Holdenhurst Road, BH8 8EB

Please find the Programme for the Humanisation conference on the 21^st June 2016 attached.

Please feel free to pass the information on to others internal and external to the university (academic and practice) who you feel may be interested

The conference is being run at no cost and so you need to make your own arrangements for lunch. Let Dr. Caroline Ellis-Hill ( cehill@bournemouth.ac.uk ) know by the 15^th June if you wish to attend .

If you only want to attend for part of the day, please state which part of the day you’d like to attend.

9.30	Registration
10.00	Dr Caroline Ellis-Hill	Welcome
10.10	Anne Quinney	Humanisation of the BU Generic Student Assessment Criteria.
10.30	Dr Sean Beer	Perceptions of the authenticity of food: a study of residents in Dorset (UK)
10.50	Prof Ann Hemingway	Innovative routes to Wellbeing: Equine Assisted interventions
11.10	Coffee
11.30	Jane Fry	Sharing human concerns: utilising an embodied interpretative approach to convey findings from a descriptive phenomenological study
11.50	Dr Carole Pound	Humanising care: translating theory into practice in stroke care
12.10	Rutherford and Dr. Emer Forde	The Rutherford Introspective Photography: Promoting self-reflection and wellbeing of GP trainees through photography.
12.30	Free time Please see information about local venues for lunch
2.00	Dr Vanessa Heaslip	How phenomenology enables insight into the Human lives of Gypsy Roma Travellers’
2.20	Mevalyn Cross	Experiencing the Humanisation Framework together
2.40	Dr Jan Mosja	Chaplaincy at the bedside. Learning from Buddhist chaplains and their contributions to the humanisation of health care.
3.00	Sally Lee	Humanising and the Care Act well-being principle
3.20	Dr Mary Grant and Dr Catherine Lamont Robinson	HeART of Stroke: feasibility study of an Art & Health intervention following a stroke
3.40	Thanks, Tea and Close

23 May 2016

Seminar today (KG03, 4pm): Perspective, Pride, and Possibility: Narratives of the Political Self

conferences, innovation, international, Knowledge Exchange, PG research, REF Subjects, Research themes Mastoureh Fathi

Speaker: Professor Paul Nesbitt-Larking (Huron University College, Canada)

Discussant: Professor Jonathan Parker (Bournemouth University)

Date: Today (Monday 23rd May 2016)

Time: 4pm – 6pm

Location: KG03, Kimmeridge House

Booking is not required.

Abstract: The stories we tell about our political lives, our personal political narratives, are the outcomes of our encounters with the master narratives of our time and place.

As we encounter significant others, enter into dialogue, and engage in social practice, we construct and reconstruct accounts of ourselves in political relationship with others.

In so doing, we give shape to our political identities. In the light of narrative research data, the paper is an exploration of encounters between personal and master narratives as they relate to three core elements of ideology: The cognitive construction of the political world (perspective); the affective orientation to the political world (pride); and imaginative deconstructions and reconstructions of the political world (possibility).

About the speaker:

Paul Nesbitt-Larking is Professor of Political Science at Huron University College in Canada and Visiting Professor, School of Health and Human Sciences, University of Huddersfield, UK. A scholar in political identities, citizenship, multiculturalism, and political communications, his recent publications include The Political Psychology of Globalization: Muslims in the West (Oxford University Press, 2011) and the Palgrave Handbook of Global Political Psychology (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) as well as numerous academic articles and chapters. He is currently Past President of the International Society of Political Psychology.

For futher information on this event please contact: mfathi@bournemouth.ac.uk

Parking information: Please note that there is no parking available on campus, please refer to the “how to get to BU” section to plan your journey.

16 May 2016

Perspective, Pride, and Possibility: Narratives of the Political Self

conferences, Knowledge Exchange, PG research, student research, Women's Academic Network Mastoureh Fathi

Speaker: Professor Paul Nesbitt-Larking (Huron University College, Canada)

Discussant: Professor Jonathan Parker (Bournemouth University)

Date: Monday 23rd May 2016

Time: 4pm – 6pm

Location: KG03, Kimmeridge House

Book your place via:

http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/perspective-pride-and-possibility-narratives-of-the-political-self-tickets-25057649103

Abstract: The stories we tell about our political lives, our personal political narratives, are the outcomes of our encounters with the master narratives of our time and place.

As we encounter significant others, enter into dialogue, and engage in social practice, we construct and reconstruct accounts of ourselves in political relationship with others.

In so doing, we give shape to our political identities. In the light of narrative research data, the paper is an exploration of encounters between personal and master narratives as they relate to three core elements of ideology: The cognitive construction of the political world (perspective); the affective orientation to the political world (pride); and imaginative deconstructions and reconstructions of the political world (possibility).

About the speaker:

Paul Nesbitt-Larking is Professor of Political Science at Huron University College in Canada and Visiting Professor, School of Health and Human Sciences, University of Huddersfield, UK. A scholar in political identities, citizenship, multiculturalism, and political communications, his recent publications include The Political Psychology of Globalization: Muslims in the West (Oxford University Press, 2011) and the Palgrave Handbook of Global Political Psychology (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) as well as numerous academic articles and chapters. He is currently Past President of the International Society of Political Psychology.

For futher information on this event please contact: mfathi@bournemouth.ac.uk

Parking information: Please note that there is no parking available on campus, please refer to the “how to get to BU” section to plan your journey.

10 May 2016

Social justice, engaged ethnography and the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia

conferences, Fusion Investment Fund, Women's Academic Network Jonathan Parker

Professor Jonathan Parker and Professor Sara Ashencaen Crabtree were honoured to be invited to the Universidad de Málaga to present their work with the Orang Asli (first peoples) of West Malaysia, undertaken in 2014 with the assistance of a Fusion Investment Fund grant from BU and honorarium from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

The honour was manifold, not only because of our on-going partnership in research, scholarship and education with colleagues in Málaga, in particular Prof Mária Luisa Gomez Jimenez, but also because it expressly allowed us to tell the story of the systemic disadvantages experienced by and deliberate marginalisation of the Orang Asli living in the Tasik (lake) Chini region in the state of Pahang, Malaysia.

When undertaking our ethnography, a study that sought to capture the culture, thoughts, feelings and anger of the people, we were struck by our seeming voyeuristic impotence as researchers, especially as researchers from a high income Western country. We questioned what we could do to assist the people in challenging their disadvantage and marginalisation and being engaged with the communities we asked them, explaining clearly that we could not directly change government policy, the social stigma resulting from commonly assumed myths and perceptions of the Orang Asli. The people, with one voice, entreated us to tell their stories across the world.

We have attempted to stay true to this request since our research ended. Alongside various blogs and academic papers, our book The Death of the Dragon God Lake is now with the printers. Academic outputs can often, however, gather dust and remain unread outside academia. However, having signed with an activist publisher in Malaysia and secured distribution rights for Europe and the US through a British publishing house it is more likely that this will promoted as a social critique.

The best way, having said this, to ensure the socio-economic and environmental plight of the Orang Asli is to speak with faculty, students and members of the general public around the world, to raise awareness, to discuss power relations and to offer critique of global neoliberalism, acknowledging, of course, our own positions in respect of our work. The invitation to Málaga, with a specific request to talk about social justice, allowed us to promote the cause of the Orang Asli, to fulfil our promise and to bring these often hidden issues into the open. We were fortunate in this open lecture in Málaga to be speaking to a broad international audience including Spanish, German, Costa Rican, Canadian and Romanian participants, ensuring the messages would be spread wide.

Ethnographic research can no longer simply illuminate some perceived exotic ‘other’ but must engage directly with the life-worlds of disadvantaged and marginalised peoples, telling their stories and challenging oppressive socio-political and economic structures through research and scholarship.

Jonathan Parker and Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

3 May 2016

Lessons from Southern Health – leadership to support a culture of voice across complex integrated systems

swincewicz

Dr Lee-Ann Fenge

Over the past few years there have been a number of reports which have highlighted concerns about failures of care and patient safety within a range of NHS settings raising serious concerns about the leadership of such organisations. Most recently The Care Quality Commission has identified “serious concerns” about the safety of mental health and learning disability patients at Southern Health NHS Trust. The concerns highlight the failures of leaders to deliver, monitor, assure, and safeguard a culture of safety, quality, and compassionate care and services.

This inspection took place following the publication of an independent review (the Mazars report that described a number of concerns about the way the Trust reported and investigated deaths, particularly of people using its mental health and learning disabilities services, and a lack of leadership, concerning the reporting and investigation of unexpected deaths of mental health and learning disability service users.

So what leadership challenges are there in turning this situation around? Undoubtedly there have already been improvements in the care offered within the Trust, and the commitment of staff to provide high quality care is beyond doubt. However, the problems result from on-going senior leadership failures within the organisation. Leadership is the most influential factor in shaping organisational culture (Faculty for Medical Leadership and Management, 2015), and is essential to ensure high quality, safe and compassionate healthcare. A key failing identified in Southern Healthcare concerns a lack of robust governance arrangements to investigate incidents, resulting in a lost opportunity to learn from these incidents.

This highlights the importance of senior leadership in establishing and maintaining a culture which is open, responsive and able to learn. Such a culture includes a climate in which communication is valued as a two process which values critical upward communication. This requires a culture of ‘voice’ in which concerns raised by patients, carers and staff are listened to and responded to appropriately. This was sadly lacking at Southern Health and action was not taken to address known risks to the safety of patients, including a lack of response to previous concerns highlighted by the CQC in January 2014, October 2014 and August 2015.

The Trust also failed to respond appropriately to staff concerns about their abilities to discharge certain roles and duties. This perhaps illustrates the failure of senior managers to create a culture of ‘psychological safety’ for staff in which to identify, respond and learn from these problems. Psychological safety has been shown to be a crucial element in organizational efforts to detect and prevent problems (Edmondson et al. 2016). A culture which provides psychological safety for staff embraces ‘challenge’ as a pivotal learning mechanism, and this is supported by the work of McSherry and Pearce (2016) who suggest that safe, quality care requires leaders who can challenge and be challenged.

It is important to learn from the failings of Southern Health. Increasingly NHS leaders need to be able to respond to growing complexity across integrated systems of care. They need the ability to support a system of communication which values the ‘voice’ of all stakeholders to create innovative solutions to 21^st century challenges. This requires system leadership that works in partnership across organisations ‘to construct the services that are needed’ (HSJ, 2015:4). It also requires a commitment to create a shared vision of care which values the voice and presence of patients, carers and staff as key stakeholders.

References

McSherry, R.and Pearce, P. (2016) ‘What are the effective ways to translate clinical leadership into healthcare quality improvement?’ Journal of Healthcare Leadership; 2016 (8): 11-17

20 April 2016

HRA Approval for NHS Research

Research Ethics Lisa Andrews

HRA Approval is the new process for the NHS in England that simplifies the approvals process for research, making it easier for research studies to be set up. It replaces the need for local checks of legal compliance and related matters by each participating organisation in England. This allows participating organisations to focus their resources on assessing, arranging and confirming their capacity and capability to deliver the study.

Laura Purandare, Research Monitor RBCH, has kindly agreed to run a seminar on 4th May at 2pm in BG14 to explain the changes.

The session will cover:

What HRA approval is
The implementation of changes
The difference it proposes to make to health research in England
What it means for our researchers
Key resources

The session will last approximately an hour, and Laura will be available for questions following the session. We hope to see you there.

18 April 2016

Seminar, Prof Edwin van Teijlingen, ‘Maternal Mortality in Nepal’, Wed 20th April, Royal London House, R303, 13:00-13:50.

BU Challenges, Centre for Excellence in Learning, conferences, Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund, international, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, REF Subjects, Research assessment, Research Ethics, Research Integritiy, Research themes Mastoureh Fathi

Maternal Mortality in Nepal
Abstract: The session links various social and political factors that affect maternal mortality. Women dying in pregnancy and childbirth is very much a problem of and in low-income countries. This talk focuses on Nepal, one of the poorer countries of the world, to highlight a range of maternal health issues and wider influencing factors including globalisation and the influence of global organisations such as the World Health Organisation.

For further information regarding the Social Science seminar series, get in touch with Dr Mastoureh Fathi (mfathi@boutnemouth.ac.uk).

5 April 2016

Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit 2016 Newsletter Now Available

Lisa Andrews

The latest newsletter from the Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) is available to download here. Take a look at the successful grant applications we supported/won last year, and what else we got up to in 2015. There is also an update from our colleagues in the Centre of Post Graduate Medical Research and Education (CoPMRE).

Don’t forget, BUCRU can provide FREE methodological advice and support in designing your research project. We’re based on the 5th floor of Royal London House so feel free to pop in and see us, call us on 61939 or send us an email.

18 March 2016

Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network (CHAIN) Demonstration THIS COMING WEDNESDAY 23rd March 2016

Lisa Andrews

CHAIN – Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network – is an online mutual support network for people working in health and social care. It gives people a simple and informal way of contacting each other to exchange ideas and share knowledge.

The online Directory can be used to identify and communicate with other members. You might wish to do this to draw from their experience, or to elicit an opinion on an issue or something you are doing. Or you might wish to find collaborators or liaise with fellow-travellers or people with specific skills or interests for a wide range of purposes. You can do this quickly and easily with CHAIN, and part of the advantage is that the people you find will usually be happy to help you if they can.

We are delighted to welcome a representative from CHAIN to BU on 23rd March at 2:30pm in Wollstone Lecture Theatre, Bournemouth House (BG10) to demonstrate how to make the most of being part of the network. All staff are welcome to attend, and please pass the invitation on to students who may be interested in learning more about what CHAIN has to offer.

Contact Lisa Gale-Andrews at lgaleandrews@bournemouth.ac.uk for more information.

15 March 2016

Happy World Social Work Day!

swincewicz

This year the theme of World Social Work Day is ‘Promoting the Dignity and Worth of Peoples’

This relates to the second pillar of the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development which was launched in 2012. Each of the five Global Agenda themes runs for
two years and 2016 is the second year for Promoting the Dignity and Worth of Peoples.

The theme is particularly poignant this year as we have witnessed unprecedented levels of mass migration around the world, levels of which we have not experienced since the Second World War. Images of desperate families risking their lives in an attempt to flee conflict and persecution are reported daily in the media. Many are traumatised by their experiences and face uncertain futures. In this context of human suffering it is essential to uphold the commitment to value every human life and embrace shared human experience, and social work is ideally placed to champion this approach.

Social work as a profession is underpinned by a commitment to human rights, and the current president of the International Federation of Social Work, Ruth Stark, has suggested that “Social work is a human rights discipline. It’s not just an element of it- it is the core principle.”

Such a stance requires social workers to respect the inherent dignity and worth of every person, and this includes respect for human rights as expressed in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Such an approach is underpinned by five core notions of human rights: human dignity; non-discrimination; civil and political rights; economic, social and cultural rights; and solidarity rights (Wronka, 2007).

It has been argued that social work has often blurred the line between a focus on human needs and human rights (Healy, 2008), however there is an opportunity for social work to grasp a central role in upholding the rights of all peoples across the world. If this opportunity is taken ‘ human rights provide the profession with a clear direction for a presence at the international level, while also bridging local and national issues with global concerns’ (Healy 2008:745).

World Social Work Day provides an opportunity for the global community of social work to come together through cross-national dialogue, to promote a human rights approach which is rooted in social action as a means to uphold the dignity and worth of all peoples across the global world. We therefore should not just ‘talk the talk’ about upholding the dignity and rights of all, but more importantly ‘walk the walk’ by implementing these principles into action in everyday practice.

References

Healy, L.M. (2008) Exploring the history of social work as a human rights profession, International Social Work, 51, 735-748.

Wronka, J. (2007) Human Rights and Social Justice: Social Action and Service for the Helping and Health Professions, Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage.

15 March 2016

Guide to develop understanding of financial scamming launched at recent Parliamentary event

swincewicz

A recent awareness raising event at the House of Commons, hosted by Conor Burns MP, discussed the problem of financial scamming and mass marketing fraud in the UK and highlighted the work being undertaken by the NCPQSW at Bournemouth University.

The event included an address from Bournemouth University’s Professor Keith Brown, and explored some of the work of the NCPQSW around financial scam prevention and at risk groups. Bournemouth University, in partnership with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, National Trading Standards Scams Team, North Yorkshire Trading Standards, and City of London Trading Standards, has created a Financial Scamming Guide to offer advice and guidance on what to watch for and how to avoid falling foul of scamming techniques and schemes.

This guide includes a campaign to raise awareness of the risks of financial scamming, as well as calling for a more integrated approach to tackling the issues from the financial sectors. In particular the campaign asks that …..

All agencies, especially financial institutions, should:

Recognise that consumers/clients with dementia are by definition more at risk of
being scammed. Therefore measures to protect this population group are required
as part of a ‘duty to care, and those with a diagnosis of dementia have by definition a cognitive impairment which means that their potential ‘unwise decision’ is a result of their cognitive state rather than simply an unwise decision.

All organisations that hold personal data should:

Only share or pass on personal details to other organisations via a clear ‘opt in’ as opposed to an ‘opt out’ process. Data should only be allowed for a maximum of 12 months before permission needs to be sought again.
Recognise that the normal default position should be that charities do not share, pass on or sell personal details to help prevent ‘Suckers Lists’. The exception being to report a safeguarding concern to statutory agencies where there is a suspicion that the person(s) is/are at risk of harm or scamming and this information should be used in accordance to The Care Act (2014).

Citizens who feel at risk of financial scamming should be able to:

Formally notify their bank/building society stating that they feel at risk, requesting that all transactions above a defined threshold (say £1,000) have a 24 hour delay before being processed.
At the start of the 24 hour delay period, an email/text alert is automatically sent to the customer’s nominated representative (relative/friend) stating that the customer is attempting to make a large transaction. This will give the opportunity for the proposed transaction to be challenged with a view to potentially stop it leaving consumers account.

To find out more about the work of the NCPQSW in relation to financial scamming, please CLICK HERE.

14 March 2016

The importance of leadership strategy in Children’s Services

swincewicz

By Lee-Ann Fenge, Deputy Director National Centre for Post-Qualifying Social Work

It is difficult to under-estimate the importance of effective leadership and leadership style within children’s services. Children’s services represent complex areas of practice including child protection and looked after children, and services are being delivered against a backdrop of increasing fiscal restraint and budget cuts. The recruitment and retention of a skilled workforce is an on-going challenge and as a result leaders need to be able to effectively deliver innovative responses to provide services which achieve better outcomes for children and their families.

Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills) inspect and regulate services that care for children and young people, but worryingly recent inspection figures revealed there were more “inadequate” than “good” children’s services in English local authorities. This is worrying for both local authorities and those receiving support from them.

Staff from the National Centre of Post-Qualifying Social Work at Bournemouth University, have been working in partnership with one local authority to develop a robust approach to leadership in order to enhance service delivery in children’s services. Cheshire West and Chester have committed to deliver an Aspiring Team Leader programme and an Aspiring Practice Lead programme as part of a sustainable workforce development approach. Kate Howe, from the NCPQSW, has worked with them to deliver a bespoke Masters level Leadership unit, providing added depth to the programme.

This commitment to workforce development and leadership has proved very positive for Cheshire West and Chester who were recently awarded ‘good’ in their Ofsted inspection, whilst leadership, management and governance were deemed as ‘outstanding’.

‘This outstanding leadership has resulted in good-quality services that respond to the needs of children and families quickly and effectively’ (Ofsted, 2016:2).

Cheshire West and Chester have embraced a culture of leadership and coaching as a central plank to improve services for children and their families, taking on board recommendations from Ofsted’s report into effective leadership (2015).

Ofsted suggest that it is possible to overcome some of the challenges of contemporary children’s services through innovation and robust succession planning. This includes approaches to workforce development which value ‘growing your own’, and an importance on learning and development alongside protected budgets and caseloads (Ofsted, 2015). Cheshire West and Chester’s approach to leadership appears to acknowledge these key areas and their recent Ofsted Inspection highlighted the importance of their partnership with Bournemouth University.

‘The authority is active in trying to retain staff through a staff development policy including aspiring senior practice leads and aspiring team managers’ courses, and is currently developing an aspiring senior manager course, all in conjunction with Bournemouth University’ (Ofsted, 2016: 33).

The value added of working alongside a university concerns not only the content of the learning, but also the critical role of assessment of learning. By designing clear assessment strategies based on reflective practice, it is possible to evaluate the effectiveness of learning on staff thinking and practice, and ultimately support a culture of change within the organisation.

References

Ofsted (2015) Joining the dots… Effective leadership of children’s services, Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/424193/Joining_the_dots__effective_leadership_of_childrens_services.pdf

Ofsted (2016) Inspection of services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers And Review of the effectiveness of the Local Safeguarding Children Board – Cheshire West and Chester http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/local-authorities/cheshire-west-and-chester

10 March 2016

‘Voices of the Secret State’: Seminar presentation by Dr Hyun Joo Lim, 16th March, Studeland House, Room S206, 13:00-13:50

Awarded & submitted bids, BRIAN, BU Challenges, Centre for Excellence in Learning, Coffee Morning, conferences, Funding opportunities, Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund, Grants Academy, Knowledge Transfer, Publishing, R & KE Operations, Research assessment, Research Ethics, Research Integritiy, Research themes, Women's Academic Network Mastoureh Fathi

All staff and students welcome. Please feel free to bring your lunch.

Voices of the Secret State: Human Rights Activism among North Korean

Defectors in the UK

Abstract: My paper aims to highlight the lived experiences and identity formation of North Korean defectors settled in the UK who are involved in human rights activism. Whilst violations of human rights in North Korea are well documented, human rights activism by its defectors is less well known. Since 2004, approximately 600 North Koreans have settled in the UK. Free NK, a human rights organisation born out of this settlement, has been active in illuminating the reality of North Korea whilst also working towards subverting the regime by informing its fellow remainders about the outside world through the distribution of newspapers. This paper is drawn from ongoing research on North Korean defectors living in the UK. The data is collected using life history interviews to capture their lived experiences and to identify a range of factors which have influenced their involvement in the activism whilst also seeking to find better ways of improving the wellbeing and quality of life for those activists. The presentation will focus on the in-depth story of a North Korean defector who has founded Free NK. Themes that will be addressed in this story include the reason why he has fled North Korea; the processes of getting to the UK; challenges he has faced in his human rights activism.
Dr Hyun-Joo Lim is a lecturer in Sociology and the programme leader for BA Sociology and Social Policy at BU. She is originally from South Korea and has been engaged in various research projects that explore issues around migration, ‘race’/ethnicity, gender and identity. Her previous research examined East Asian mothers in Britain.

For more information about Social Science seminar series please get in touch with Dr Mastoureh Fathi (mfathi@bournemouth.ac.uk).

2 March 2016

Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network (CHAIN) Demonstration 23rd March 2016

Lisa Andrews

CHAIN – Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network – is an online mutual support network for people working in health and social care. It gives people a simple and informal way of contacting each other to exchange ideas and share knowledge.

The online Directory can be used to identify and communicate with other members. You might wish to do this to draw from their experience, or to elicit an opinion on an issue or something you are doing. Or you might wish to find collaborators or liaise with fellow-travellers or people with specific skills or interests for a wide range of purposes. You can do this quickly and easily with CHAIN, and part of the advantage is that the people you find will usually be happy to help you if they can.

A representative from CHAIN will be visiting BU on 23rd March at 2:30pm in Wollstone Lecture Theatre, Bournemouth House (BG10) to demonstrate how to make the most of being part of the network. All staff are welcome to attend, and please pass the invitation on to your final year students who may be interested in learning more about what CHAIN has to offer.

Contact Lisa Gale-Andrews at lgaleandrews@bournemouth.ac.uk to book your place.

16 February 2016

Involving patients and the public in your research. Registration for NIHR webinar now open!

Lisa Andrews

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Training and Coordinating Centre will be hosting a live one hour webinar about involving patients and the public in research on Tuesday 23 February at 11am.

This is an introductory webinar for researchers with little or no experience of patient and public involvement (PPI). This webinar is aimed at aspiring NIHR trainees and early career researchers.

This webinar will include:

An overview of what PPI is and why it is important in research
Why PPI is important to the NIHR and how best to demonstrate PPI in an application – including signposts to NIHR resources around PPI
Q&A session

The webinar will be presented by Philippa Yeeles, Director of Involvement and Engagement at the NIHR Central Commissioning Facility alongside Anne-Laure Donskoy, an NIHR Panel Member and independent researcher.

You can register for the webinar via the following link:

bit.ly/PPIwebinar2016

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