The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin
PEOPLE & SOCIETY WINTER 2019
ISSUE NO.5
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Spotlight on Research
16
Policy And Practice Impact
20
Public Engagement Events
1
Welcome
In this issue
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02
The 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
03
Spotlight on research
06
Nuffield Research Placements
07
Grant successes
11
International collaborations
15
Student successes
16
Policy and practice impact
20
Public Engagement Events
23
Profile: Prof Allan Miller
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HASS Impact Prize Awards 2020
elcome to this year’s last issue of People & Society. In the rush to the Christmas break, I hope you find time to read through the issue, be it with a cup of tea or mulled wine. Thirty years ago, in December 1989, I was living through the fall of the Communist regime in Romania, just a few weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall; in countries across Central and Eastern Europe, people were out in the streets demonstrating for freedom, liberty and human rights. Europe has changed significantly since 1989, yet the fight for human rights and liberties continues across the world. As we celebrate the International Day of Human Rights on 10th December, and the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is only fitting that we welcome a piece by our newly appointed Professor in Human Rights, Alan Miller. The Declaration is a milestone document that proclaimed the inalienable rights which everyone is inherently entitled to as a human being -- regardless of nationality, race and ethnicity, gender, religion, sexuality, political or other opinion, or social origin. It is the most translated document in the world, available in more than 500 languages. In other sections of the Bulletin, you can read about research which changes lives, from projects carried out by young people involved placements with our researchers to work by colleagues in Psychology aiming to tackle dementia and its devastating effects on people’s lives. Our impact on policy and practice has again been significant, in Scotland, Europe and further afield. Finally, our 2020 Faculty Impact Prizes competition is now open: see details on how you can enter on page 24. As we approach the festive season, may I wish you all a happy, healthy and successful 2020. Many thanks to all colleagues who have submitted items to the Bulletin over the year and to Scott O’Donnell for brilliant design. If you’d like to feature in the first 2020 People & Society Bulletin, out in Spring, get in touch or submit your news through the Sharepoint link. Happy 2020! Have a relaxing festive season when it comes!
Prof Daniela Sime, Associate Dean (Public Engagement & Impact) Follow us: @HaSSPEI
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t: 0141 444 8410 e: hass-faculty-office@strath.ac.uk www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/
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THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
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here is an urgent need of human rights leadership in today’s world. How is Scotland taking its share of responsibility and how is the University of Strathclyde contributing? There is currently real pressure on the international rules-based order. Too many are putting their own interests before that of cooperating to address such global challenges as climate change, conflicts, forced migration, inequality and poverty. Brexit is part of this and it also poses a risk to the existing framework of human rights and social protections in the UK. This framework in Scotland has now been in existence for 20 years since the creation of the Scottish Parliament. It has rested on the two pillars of obligations to comply with EU law and with the European Convention on Human Rights as incorporated through the Human Rights Act. Brexit would remove the former pillar and imperil the other. It is in these circumstances that the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, established in 2017 an Advisory Group on Human Rights Leadership. Its mandate was to outline to her the concrete steps to be taken to demonstrate human rights leadership in and by Scotland in these times. A Report was presented to the First Minister on International Human Rights Day last year. Among its seven recommendations was that of introducing an Act of the Scottish Parliament which would, for the first time, put in a single place the human rights belonging to everyone in Scotland. Such rights would include not only those civil and political rights provided by the Human Rights Act, but also economic, social, cultural and environmental rights drawn from UN human rights treaties. As importantly, the Report recommended how such rights needed to be effectively implemented, so as to improve the lives of people. The establishment of a National Task Force was also recommended to
help Scotland take forward the proposed leadership steps. The First Minister, and indeed the Scottish Parliament, welcomed the Report and has now established the National Task Force for Human Rights Leadership. It is to take forward through a participative process the preparation of a Bill to be presented to the Scottish Parliament in its next session in 2021.
the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance, will also contribute to the university playing a leadership role in contributing to social progress within Scotland.
The University of Strathclyde is playing an influential role in this process. I have been appointed by the First Minister to be Independent Co-Chair of the National Task Force along with Shirley-Anne Somerville, the Cabinet Secretary responsible for human rights. This follows on from my chairing of the First Minister’s Advisory Group on Human Rights Leadership.
This close collaboration between the human rights and environmental centres will also help the university in addressing the global challenge of climate change. In particular, it will respond to the increasingly recognised need at the UN level of a human rights-based approach being taken, so as to enable the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. I hope this can lead to an even broader and multi-disciplinary cooperation across the university in promotion of the Sustainable Development Goals. This will hopefully be an opportunity of making a contribution to Scotland becoming a better country in a better world.
A significant part of my role as Professor of Practice at Strathclyde will therefore be in knowledge exchange and policy influence. I will work with the Centre for the Study of Human Rights Law and its Director, Dr Elaine Webster, and other colleagues to help build the Centre into a national and international centre of excellence. Another member of the National Task Force is my colleague, Elisa Morgera, Professor of Global Environmental Law, whose role within it, along with others at
Alan Miller was appointed in August 2019 as Professor of Practice in Human Rights. He is a Special Envoy of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions and a roster member of the UNDP Crisis Response Bureau. Previously, he held the elected positions of the founding Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission and founding Chair of the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions . He is also a past President of the Glasgow Bar Association.
The 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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SPOTLIGHT ON RESEARCH Technologies for mental health: recent developments at Strathclyde Mario A Parra and Graham Wilson
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here are growing expectations regarding the benefits that modern technologies can bring to support people affected by mental health diseases, particularly those posing significant health and social challenges such as dementias. They cause progressive loss of cognitive and functional abilities, gradually limiting the capacity of those affected to live independently. The UK government has set strategies to address these challenges, envisaging that novel technologies can enable affected individuals to stay at home safely, prolonging quality of life and delaying institutionalization. Examples of such technologies are those that rely on Virtual or Augmented Reality (VR/AR). The UK Dementia Research Institute (UK-DRI)’s Programme for Care & Technology is aiming at “… Researching, developing and applying new technologies and engineering principles with a view to understanding and promoting new models of care, assessing capacity and progression, monitoring and managing behaviours and symptoms...” The Technology Charter of the Scottish National Dementia Strategy states that “… it will ensure that everyone with a diagnosis of dementia and those who care for them are aware of, and have access to, a range of proven technologies to enable people living with dementia to live safely and independently...”. The Strategic Themes of the University of Strathclyde align well with these national and global priorities. The Lifelong Health & Wellbeing theme’s vision is that “… Good health and wellbeing requires a multidisciplinary consideration of whole systems, from the biological cell to individual and societal health and wellbeing, examining social, physical and mental health…” To provide for these social needs, we at the University of Strathclyde have launched an interdisciplinary team that brings together researchers from Psychological Sciences and Health (Applied Cognition Lab) and Computer and Information Sciences (Digital Health and Wellness Group). The activities undertaken by the interdisciplinary team to date have given us some lessons worth highlighting. First, the impact that institutional initiatives aimed at creating spaces to promote interdisciplinary dialogues can make. Second, the role of such dialogues to map institutional strengths and capabilities to meet social needs. Third, the relevance of engaging wider audiences to ensure new technological developments will meet the needs and expectations of stakeholders.
Institutional spaces for interdisciplinary dialogues On the 12th September 2018, a Working Group set up to promote research in areas aligned to the University Strategic Themes organised a workshop that focused on Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VR/AR). The workshop aimed to identify researchers/academics that share an interest in applications of VR/AR from across all faculties, and to bring this community together, to discuss how different disciplines could utilise VR/ AR equipment and facilities at the University. It was envisaged that such knowledge and shared interests would provide an appealing environment to encourage new collaborations and support the next generation of competitive grant proposals.
Figure 1. University of Strathclyde Strategic Themes’ VR/AR Workshop (Wednesday 12th September 2018). Through two Breakout Sessions, applications of VR/AR to Architecture, Rehabilitation, Digital Health, Manufacturing, Dementia, Underwater Environments, and Digital Health, were discussed.
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The potential hosted by the University of Strathclyde to undertake world-leading research in this field and provide solutions that can address emergent social needs became apparent during the various discussions held on the day. Two areas worth highlighting which are relevant to this article are Dementia and Digital Health. Dr Mario A Parra from the former and Dr Graham Wilson from the latter discovered a significant overlap of their research interests after a presentation on the use of VR for health and wellbeing from Dr Wilson, which led to follow up discussions and the establishment of an interdisciplinary team. The new initiative received support from the respective schools through which a new VR facility was set up. This quickly attracted interests from staff and students and has become a space to generate research proposals, train and teach researchers and students.
Figure 2. The new VR facility hosted by the Applied Cognition Lab at Psychology, School of Psychological Sciences and Health. The new lab currently focuses on characterising challenges posed by VR tasks and environments, optimal interfaces for visualization and interaction, and personalisation of VR applications. It aims to deliver VR tools that can help enhance memory and thinking abilities, restore functional capacity and promote independent living.
Training the new generation of professionals is a task of utmost priority, to equip them with knowledge and skills necessary to handle technological solutions that can help tackle mental health problems in social contexts. It will be when such a workforce is available, that strategies towards the implementation of such developments at the level expected by government agencies would become potentially feasible. Our collaborative VR lab and multidisciplinary expertise will equip students with the necessary breadth of technological and applied practical knowledge.
Mapping interdisciplinary dialogues to social needs We have recently discussed why and how these new technological developments can provide solutions to address health and social care needs in rapidly ageing societies. These discussions have focused on strategies to characterise and overcome challenges posed by VR tools to individuals experiencing mental health problems. Initial work has focused on enhancing meaningfulness during VR interactions. First, we are developing tools that can detect the changing abilities of those affected and use such knowledge to regulate and guide VR interactions. By asking people to carry out realistic and meaningful tasks in familiar virtual environments, we can see if and how they struggle. Such adaptive capabilities will promote treatment compliance, restore functional abilities, and maintain competences needed to sustain independent living. Second, the adaptive capabilities of our VR tools expand to the environment whereby interfaces for visualization (immersive, non-immersive), interaction (joystick, mouse), and stimulation (content of VR scenarios) can be adjusted to match preferences and meet needs of affected individuals. Meaningfulness achieved through these features will allow tailoring VR solutions to deliver person-centred interventions which will allow transferring trained skills to everyday life settings, with the ultimate aim of allowing people to live well at home for longer. We have recently interacted with the general public, asking them to use and give their opinions on our new VR tools. The experiences gathered during these interactions are discussed in the next section.
Spotlight on research
5 Engaging the public For next-generation technologies to meet the needs of people affected by mental health problems, their development should focus on co-creation and co-design strategies whereby views and preferences of those affected are captured and incorporated. This will increase their acceptability as users will perceive a better mapping of their needs on the capabilities of such technologies. Such a mapping is essential to achieve a level of person-centred care that will promote treatment adherence. Also, by engaging directly with the public, we can help to increase awareness of new technologies and how they might be effective in health domains, reducing scepticism or apprehension around unfamiliar devices. We have had the opportunity to interact with members of the public and gather their views about the new VR solutions we are developing.
Figure 4. But we are not quite there yet. In a more recent public engagement activity held during the EXPLORATHON ’19 at the Riverside Museum, we had the opportunity to run a new interactive showcase during which we invited people to “make their own virtual sandwiches”. Members of the public tried the new interactive VR tool. While they appreciated and agreed with the benefits that these technological developments can offer to people affected by mental health diseases, as well as those who care for them, work is still needed to make them more user friendly and easy to learn.
Future directions
Figure 3. During the Humanities and Social Sciences Extravaganza, we ran the interactive showcase “Virtual Reality for Memory Training”. School age children, colleagues from various disciplines, and other members of the staff interacted with our virtual kitchen. Two factors that make VR solutions beneficial for health applications were acknowledged, the illusion of realism and the level of configurability of our virtual kitchen environment. As we discussed above, both features are essential to achieve meaningfulness and personalization.
Many challenges remain in the quest of delivering VR technologies for health and social care. In this article we have discussed the impact of interdisciplinary efforts from psychological and computer sciences through which knowledge about assessment and training of mental abilities can be incorporated into new technologies. However, challenges expand beyond this area. We need to improve our understanding about interactions between ethnographic, ethical, and technological issues to ensure these new developments will be sustainable in a globalised world. We need to refine strategies to equip new technologies with capabilities not only to assess and assist mental abilities but to monitor physiological responses, life-style patterns, comorbidities, thus providing a multi-systemic approach to individual health trajectories. This will allow delivering comprehensive health care support aimed at enhancing resilience in older adults and preventing loss rather than restoring functional abilities.
Acknowledgements We thank David Robertson, Tanya Kay and Jacqueline Beattie who were involved in the organization of the VR/AR Workshop and kindly provided information and images from this activity. We want to acknowledge the support from the School of Psychological Sciences and Health which supported us in setting up the new VR Facility in our lab. Interactions with other colleagues from Psychology such as William McGeown and David Robertson and from Computer and Information Sciences such as Kieren Egan have contributed to shaping our research agenda.
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NUFFIELD RESEARCH PLACEMENTS
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he Nuffield Foundation provides opportunities for secondary school students to work alongside professional scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians (STEM) every summer. The Laboratory for Innovation in Autism hosted its first Nuffield research placement in 2018, which was a great success and brought positive experiences for both the lab and the student. In 2019, we hosted two secondary school students on the six-week research placements. Sermad Kadhum (from Hyndland Secondary School) and Zainab Azad (from Notre Dame High School) joined us over the summer. They worked with PhD student, Yu Wei Chua, Hawthorne Fellow, Dr Szu-Ching Lu, and the lab director, Dr Jonathan Delafield-Butt, to design and program a new smartphone game. This game is fun for kids to play and able to detect movement signatures in their gameplay that could potentially be used to detect autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
Capture: Zainab (at the front) with members of the Laboratory for Innovation in Autism
The smartphone game employed a cartoon bakery theme developed in Xcode with the Swift programming language and was implemented on an iPhone for testing and demonstration. This was impressive work that required computer programming skills, as well as a growing appreciation of developmental conditions. Sermad and Zainab made posters to showcase their hard work at the Nuffield Celebration Event in Edinburgh. These Nuffield research placements increase the accessibility of higher education research culture to young students and afford an experience to propel their motivation towards reaching out and achieving enrolment in a higher education institution. Both young people intend to study for higher degrees, in medicine or in biomedical science. Sermad and Zainab’s work now serves as a foundation for future research carried forward in the lab, which can help us better understand the motor control in children with ASD utilizing smartphone applications. The utilization of emerging technologies will provide new insight into core disruptions to movement in autism, which is important for early detection, therapeutic, and educational gains.
Capture: Poster presentation and smartphone game demonstration at the Nuffield Celebration Event in Edinburgh
Nuffield Research Placements https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/ nuffield-research-placements
Laboratory for Innovation in Autism https://www.strath.ac.uk/research/innovationinautism/
Nuffield Research Placements
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GRANT SUCCESSES Civil Society Brexit project Dr Rebecca Zahn (Law) has been awarded ÂŁ209,000 by the Legal Education Foundation to work in partnership with the Human Rights Consortium Scotland and the Scottish Universities Legal Network on Europe (represented by Prof Nicole Busby (Glasgow), Ms Maria Fletcher (Glasgow) and Dr Rebecca Zahn (Strathclyde)) . The grant will allow the team to continue work on the Civil Society Brexit Project until 2022. The Civil Society Brexit Project has been running since 2017. It is a joint venture between Human Rights Consortium Scotland (HRCS) and the Scottish Universities Legal Network for Europe (SULNE), which delivers a programme of events, trainings, briefings, and information alerts tailored to the needs of civil society organisations in Scotland. By bringing together the civil society contacts, networking, capacity building and collaborative approach of HRCS, with the legal and educational expertise of SULNE and its capacity for knowledge generation, this project empowers the Scottish third sector to engage with and better participate in the wider Brexit discussions, and the constitutional change that has been triggered by the Brexit vote. See the project website at: https://hrcscotland.org/about-civil-society-brexit-project/
Non-adherence to hormonal therapy in breast cancer survivors: a systematic review and qualitative analysis of the role of sleep disturbance Grantholders: Dr Leanne Fleming, Dr Diane Dixon, Dr Megan Crawford. Funder Chief Scientist Office, ÂŁ29,000 Women with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer are prescribed hormone therapy for 5-10 years after breast cancer surgery to minimise the risk of breast cancer recurrence. Research indicates that around 50% of women prescribed hormone therapy do not adhere to their prescription. In most cases, this is because of unpleasant side-effects from the medication. Sleep disturbance is one of the most common side-effects of hormone therapy, but its influence upon adherence has not yet been examined. We will explore the experience of poor sleep and its impact on adherence to hormone therapy in order to consider whether improving sleep would result in improved adherence.
Dr Rebecca Zahn
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8 Improving older adults’ vaccination uptake Grantholder Dr Lynn Williams Funder Chief Scientist Office, £25,000 In Scotland, older adults (aged 65+) are offered flu, pneumococcal, and shingles vaccinations via the NHS. These vaccinations prevent illness and life-threatening complications in older adults, but uptake is low and decreasing. Our future research will identify the reasons for this, so that we can design interventions to increase vaccination coverage and improve older adults’ health. However, existing measures of vaccine hesitancy, measuring barriers to vaccination, were developed with younger adults. Before future use, we therefore first need to ensure that these measures are valid and reliable in older adults and, if not, develop them for this population.
Using behavioural science to improve the effectiveness of telephone-assisted CPR Grantholder: Dr Diane Dixon Funder: Chief Scientist Office, £31,000 The majority of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests are witnessed by a bystander but only 56% of victims receive life-saving cardiopulmonary resuscitation. When the bystander is supported over the telephone by the emergency dispatcher (T-CPR), CPR is more likely, but even then, 25% of bystanders do not intervene. Performing CPR is a behaviour, therefore, behavioural science can be used to improve CPR theory to identify; 1) modifiable (cognitive and emotional) barriers to the performance of T-CPR and 2) opportunities, within current T-CPR training/instructions to overcome those barriers.
Staff from both the Law School (Lorna Gillies) and European Policies Research Centre were successful in being awarded a Framework Agreement from the Scottish Government for research services vis-à-vis Brexit for a period of one year from April 2019.
Celebrating Grant Successes These are some of the awards we have secured in the second half of 2019. Congratulations to all colleagues and teams involved. Title
Award Holder
School
Funder
Cerebellar disruption in neurodevelopmental disorders (Yu Wei Chua)
Jonathan Delafield-Butt
Education
R S Macdonald Charitable Trust
Towards a better understanding of the barriers and opportunities for children with learning difficulties in the chemistry classroom
Jane Essex
Education
Royal Society of Chemistry
An exploration of the role of visual professional learning tools in teacher professional learning
Anna Beck
Education
Train Visual Ltd
Talking about learning disability: a school based intervention to prevent bullying Alastair Wilson and promote understanding about people with learning disabilities (Talk-LD)
Education
Baily Thomas
Belgitude and Feminism: Intersection and Impact.
Caroline Verdier
Humanities
Carnegie Trust
Cold War Mentalities: Mental Health, Migration, Cultural Exchange and the Harvard Project on the Soviet Social System (Fellowship - Hannah Proctor)
Matthew Smith
Humanities
Wellcome Trust
Topical Diversity, Discursive Continuity, and the Engagement in Online Communities in Twitter Reactions to Acts of Extremist Violence
Chamil Rathnayake
Humanities
Carnegie Trust
PLATON - a PLATform for Open and Nationally accessible climate policy knowledge
Karen Turner
Government & Public Policy
Research Council of Norway
ClimateXChange Post Doctoral Fellowship (Christian Calvillo - extension)
Karen Turner
Government & Public Policy
Scottish Government
Ideological Disagreement, Issue Competition and Voter Perceptions: the case of Scotland
Zachary Greene
Government & Public Policy
Carnegie Trust
The role of CCS in industry clusters in delivering value to the political economy
Karen Turner
Government & Public Policy
EPSRC
Fighting together, moving apart?
Thomas Scotto
Government & Public Policy
Volkswagen Foundation
Improving older adults' vaccination uptake: are existing measures of vaccine hesitancy valid and reliable for older people?
Lynn Williams
Psychological Sciences and Health
Chief Scientist's Office
Impact and implementation evaluation of TESSA - TESSA Families Study
Christine Jones
Social Work and Social Policy
Adoption UK
System-science Informed Public Health and Economic Research for Noncommunicable Disease Prevention (the SIPHER Consortium)
Katharine Smith
Social Work and Social Policy
MRC
Social Innovation Programme for Health and Wellbeing
Henry Burns
Social Work and Social Policy
Lanarkshire NHS Grant successes
9 University of Strathclyde Researchers’ Group For all research staff from all career stages (Assistants to Senior Research Fellows), and all Faculties (Science, Engineering, HASS, SBS) We focus on: • promoting cross-faculty events and training for research staff at all career stages; • communicating the interests, successes, challenges and constraints of the research community; • establishing a ‘researchers-supporting-researchers’ framework; • sharing good practice via events and surgeries in each faculty. Find us on the university website by searching: ‘Researchers Group’ or contact us via our social media channels: researchers-group@strath.ac.uk
@strathRG
Strathclyde Uni Researchers’ Group
Join us for one of our upcoming events! Sign up for our mailing list or keep an eye on events in the Weekly Digest.
‘Growing Up in Higher Education’ –Learn more about other (senior) researchers’ career paths, life experiences, struggles and lessons learned Wednesday, 30th October 2019 Prof. Andrew Daley Wednesday, 27th November 2019 Prof. Gail McConnell
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10 A success story:
StrathWide is a yearly one-day conference/symposium for assistants/associates/fellows from all Academic Professional job families (research/teaching/knowledge exchange) which aims to promote new collaborations across Faculties in The University of Strathclyde. This conference provides cutting-edge keynote talks, networking opportunities and access to funding support for new collaboration projects. Organised by researchers for researchers, participants will share their ideas for interdisciplinary projects to address Strathclyde’s seven strategic themes and find partners to make it a reality. Sessions normally include:
• • • • •
Ideas into action: a series of rapid-fire 60s pitches from researchers about themselves andtheir ideas (no slides needed); Mix ‘n’ Match: networking sessions with other disciplines to develop new approaches; Insights: new perspectives on Strathclyde’s seven strategic themes from leading academics; Pitch Perfect: workshops with mentors from Strathclyde’s Entrepreneurial Network tosupport researchers in developing their research; Grants to Go: Small starting grants for collaborators to kick-start their project.
Outputs and impact StrathWide has run for 3 consecutive years. Some of the outputs and impact of these events are: • 150+ research assistants/associates/fellows participants engaging with the university research community; • Around 100 presentations publicising research projects and research skills; • At least 9 new collaborative projects were born; • Unique funding scheme of up to £25k for proof of concepts lead by conference participants; Career Development Benefits
• • • • • • • •
This conference and funding scheme provide developmental opportunities to Strathclyde research community; Allows participants to improve their grant writing and communication skills; Fosters a peer-review culture at Strathclyde; Serves as a first opportunity for many early career researchers to develop independent research and to take their first PI role; The faculties and more generally the University will benefit from better prepared researchers, who will develop further grant writing skills; This scheme will also help faculties to reach strategic targets such as those set by the Athena Swan or the Concordat programmes; The latter seeks to increase sustainability of research while improving its quality and supporting the development of Researchers at the University of Strathclyde; The potential interdisciplinary cross-faculty collaborations that align with the University’s strategic plan raising the opportunity to facilitate the creation of innovative know-how and synergistic solutions.
Grant successes
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INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS Prof Morgera on opening panel at The Treaty of Versailles Centenary Annual Science Conference To mark the centenary of the Paris Peace Conference, Dr Rogelia Prof Elisa Morgera was invited to contribute to an opening panel on the science-policy interface for achieving SDG 14 at the Annual Science Conference of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, Sept 2019. The Council is an intergovernmental marine science organization that seeks to advance and share scientific understanding of marine ecosystems and the services they provide and to use this knowledge to generate state-of-the-art advice for meeting conservation, management, and sustainability goals. The conference was held at Gothenburg, Sweden, and gathered 763 participants from 38 countries, including 175 early career scientists. The opening panel also included Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry (President of the World Maritime University), Katherine Richardson (University of Copenhagen), Manuel Barange (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), and Vladimir Ryabinin (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO). The video-recording of the panel wen can be found here.
Pastor-Castro organised a major international conference in collaboration with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, The National Archives, the LSE and the British International History Group. The National Archives hosted the first day of the conference on 27 June, which included a display of the treaties signed between the Allies and Germany and the Central Powers. The Guardian reported on the private display and the fact that Britain is the only nation to hold a complete set of all the original treaties. On 28 June, exactly 100 years since the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office hosted the second day of the conference at Lancaster House, where Sir Simon McDonald, Permanent Under-Secretary at the FCO, welcomed the 140 delegates representing fifteen nationalities. The range of papers examined the impact of the treaties on the modern world, and discussed such topics as East Asia, the Middle East, transnational actors, minorities, diplomats and borders.
Prof Morgera leads the One Ocean Hub, a global inter-disciplinary collaboration that seeks to transform our response to the urgent challenges facing our ocean through integrated and inclusive governance. The Hub is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) which is a key component in delivering the UK AID strategy and puts UK-led research at the heart of efforts to tackle the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
European Social Network award win A partnership project with SOS Children’s Villages, ‘Prepare for Leaving Care’, won the European Social Network (ESN) European Social Services Innovation Award. CELCIS (Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection) was commissioned by SOS Children’s Villages to produce the project guidance. The work included Dr Chrissie Gale and Dr Gayle Rice facilitating participation work with young people across Europe; Kenny McGhee, Dr Chrissie Gale and consultant Nigel Cantwell (Honorary Doctor of Children’s Rights at the University) writing the guidance, and Ian Milligan and Dr Irene Stevens developing and delivering ‘training for trainers’ guidance. More information about the project can be found here: https://www.sos-childrensvillages. org/prepare-for-leaving-care
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NEW EPRC REPORT: Northern Periphery and Arctic programme impact evaluation Research by EPRC’s Irene McMaster and Heidi Vironen and independent consultant Nathalie Wergles, on the Impact Evaluation of the Northern Periphery and Arctic (NPA) Programme, has been highlighted at an event on Interreg Evaluation, Capitalisation and Communication in Budapest 5-6 November. The transnational Interreg NPA programme covers an extensive geography from the west coast of Greenland to the Eastern borders of Finland, has a strong focus on addressing the development needs of extremely remote peripheral areas through transnational cooperation. Measuring programme impacts over such a large programme area and dispersed populations poses challenges for regular evaluation approaches. The research included an innovative elements such as foundation analysis of longer-term territorial impacts of projects, and in depth territorial case study analyses, involving interviews with ‘end users’ as well as project partners. This allowed the research to not only assess programme and project progress, but understand the potential long terms benefits for the territories, the distinctive role that territorial cooperation efforts can play, and the real benefits on the ground.
History at the Heart of Diplomacy The British Embassy in Paris asked Dr Rogelia Pastor-Castro to act as historical adviser for the commemorations marking the 75th anniversary of the Liberation of Paris and the reopening of the embassy. Dr Pastor-Castro wrote about the embassy from 1940 to 1947 based on her publication The Paris Embassy: British Ambassadors and Anglo-French Relations, 1944–79 and her forthcoming volume Embassies in Crisis. Selected text and images were displayed on panels at the Ambassador’s reception to mark the event. Guests read Dr PastorCastro’s account and discussed with her the history of FrancoBritish relations. After the reception, Ambassador Llewellyn hosted a private dinner at which the special guests included descendants of the Grenadier Guards who liberated the embassy in 1944. Dr Pastor-Castro’s research will continue to reach members of the public as the panels will be on display when the embassy holds Open Doors Day.
To download the full report here.
Dr Pastor-Castro with Lord Llewellyn, British Ambassador to France
International collaborations
13 International and local events for judges and policy makers Prof Alan Paterson, School of Law, has chaired and organised the International Conference on Legal Aid, in Ottawa, Ontario. He was also invited to speak on Quality Assurance and Peer Review at an international conference on Legal Aid in Vilnius, Lithuania and has presented on ‘Peer Review’ at the Kiev International Legal Aid Conference. In October, Alan has presented on ‘Re-accrediation of Lawyers’ at CCBE/FBE Conference on Self Regulation and Quality in the Legal Profession in Lisbon, Portugal. Closer to home, Alan was invited to convene and act as questionmaster for the Three Presidents of the UK Supreme Court ( Lord Phillips, Lord Neuberger and Lady Hale ) relating to the first ten years of the Court. The event was held in the Supreme Court building and will be placed on the Supreme Court website in early course. He has also given a presentation by invitation to Scottish Government Expert Payment Panel on “Paying for Access to Justice”.
SCELG collaborates with the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society (TILT) Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance (SCELG) Co-Director Dr Francesco Sindico was invited by the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society (TILT) as part of the Institute’s celebrations for its 25 year anniversary. Every month in 2019, TILT has focused on a specific topic and in October Dr Sindico was asked to join TILT for a month as the Climate Change Visiting Professor. In this role he delivered a public lecture titled “Climate Change Tipping Point: Civil Society Turns to Litigation” on 22 October. The public lecture was delivered in Tilburg’s public library, LocHal, a truly magnificent public space that allowed SCELG’s work and research to be accessed by the general public in Tilburg. The public lecture was an opportunity to discuss the work that SCELG is currently undertaking within the Climate Change Litigation Initiative in collaboration with the University of Geneva and the National University of Singapore.
These events all involved practitioners or judges or policymakers.
Visit from Thai judges The two-week Thai judiciary visit organised by Paul Cardwell, School of Law, has now come to end. It was very successful (if exhausting) and the 35 participating judges have had a great time at Strathclyde. Prof Cardwell said: “Putting together this programme was only possible with the support of many people in the Law School. I hope I don’t miss anyone out, but I would like to thank Carol, Morag, Eve and Caila for their help with all the organisation aspects, budget, gift wrapping (!) and helping with all kinds of last minute hiccups. I am very grateful to Rhonda and Mike Nellis for giving guest lectures during the programme. Mary did a great job in giving the response on behalf of the School at the Civic Reception in the City Chambers, which Aiden and Alan also attended. Aileen’s suggestions for speakers in Election Law were very helpful in putting together a coherent programme of study. The support of our PhD student, Thanyanuch (who is also a judge in Thailand) and LLM student, Arunotai, was invaluable, and the student Law Clinic directors, Kirstie and Jamie made a great impression with their presentation on the work of the Law Clinic. Many thanks to all.”
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14 SCELG at Arctic Circle Assembly In October 2019, the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance (SCELG) contributed to two breakout sessions at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland. The Assembly is the largest annual gathering on the Artic and is attended by heads of state and government, ministers, and members of parliament, as well as representatives of civil society and indigenous peoples. Nicola Crook, SCELG PhD researcher, presented the work that SCELG has undertaken with the Scottish Government Islands Team. Nicola contributed to a panel chaired by Mr Wheelhouse, Scottish Minister of Energy, Connectivity and Islands, and focused on the methodology undertaken during the National Islands Plan consultation process, with a view to sharing good practices with other countries. SCELG collaborates closely with the Strathclyde Centre for the Study of Human Rights Law. It works extensively on topics on the crossection of human rights and environmental law, notably in the context of Brexit, the EILEAN lab, the BeneLex Project and the One Ocean Hub.
International Keynote speech Professor Elisa Morgera contributed to the 16th edition of the annual Course on Multilateral Environmental Agreement Negotiations organized by the UN Environment Programme and the University of Eastern Finland under the theme Emerging issues in International Environmental Law. Elisa was invited to deliver a keynote speech, titled “Is International Law and Governance Equipped to Deal with Emerging Environmental Issues?� (available at https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=cdJ4hbNWHbs.) In addition, Elisa facilitated an interactive discussion among participants on the options for protecting marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, together with Charlotte Salpin, UN Division for Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea, and a panel discussion on emerging Issues in international biodiversity law. Furthermore, Elisa co-designed and co-facilitated with colleagues at University of Eastern Finland a two-day negotiation exercise based on the ongoing UN negotiations on a new legally binding instrument on marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction.
International collaborations
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STUDENT SUCCESSES Students visiting New York University In July we successfully completed the 3rd run of the joint summer school involving University of Strathclyde (Social Work and Social Policy) and New York University (Sliver School of Social Work). Seven students from Strathclyde (3 social work and 4 social policy) visited New York and attended a mixture of class based sessions, agency visits and cultural experiences. The School was led by Graham McPheat (Strathclyde) and Victoria Stanhope (New York). Topics covered in class included History of Social Policy and Social Work in the U.S.; Housing & Homelessness; Non-Profit Sector and Settlement Houses; LGBTQ Advocacy and Services; Mental Health Policy; Integrated Health Care; Mental Health Services; Social Activism. Visits included the New York Tenement House Museum, the Museum of the City of New York, the United Nations and the Greenwich LGBTQ Centre and the Stonewall Memorial. The summer school will run again in June 2020 when students from New York will be in Glasgow for 2 weeks.
Viva Successes We’d like to congratulate the following students and their supervisors for successfully defending their doctoral theses in 2019. Professional Doctorate (EdD) Valerie Douglas “Speak slowly, I don’t understand”: Communication and cultural competence in the Erasmus+ experience in nursing education PhD in Education Omar Abdulaziz The Role of Minecraft on Social-emotional and Alawajee Behavioural Outcomes of Children with Hearing Loss or Autism: Perspectives of Parents and Children Katie Hunter Understanding working-class orientations towards Higher Education: a qualitative study of educational decision-making practice Yoga and Autism: The Effectiveness of a yearlong yoga Lilias Nicholls programme. Its influence on physicality, communication, organisational skills and mood in a small group of school age pupils PhD in Law Khalid Ahmed Should the misappropriation of trade secrets be a Hafedh Al-Shaaibi criminal offence in Oman? A comparative analysis with England and the United States Kay Gormley The nature and extent of sentence discounting for guilty pleas in Scottish Sheriff Court summary cases PhD in History Nicola Cacciatore Working with the enemy: relationships between Italian partisans and British Forces - 1943-1945 PhD in European Public Policy Claudia Gloazzo Financial instruments and the governance of EU cohesion policy: roles, responsibilities and accountability PhD in Psychology Christine Understanding adherence to ankle-foot orthoses: an McMonagle application of the theory of planned behaviour PhD in Counselling Wendy Louise Person-centred therapy and pre-therapy for people Traynor who hear voices, have unusual experiences or psychotic processes: Practitioner and client perceptions of helpful and unhelpful practice and perceived client changes
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POLICY AND PRACTICE IMPACT Rural Areas for Young People: Policy Responses from Italy and Scotland On Friday 25 October 2019, EPRC hosted a seminar looking at the challenges faced by rural areas in remaining attractive places for young people. The presentations and discussions started from a stock-take of shrinking rural areas across Europe and then moved on to examples of policy measures from Italy and Scotland. Stefan Kah from EPRC gave an introduction that not only showed an increased attention given to the subject, but also that policy-makers have long been aware of the challenges of keeping young people in rural areas. Andrew Copus from the James Hutton Institute presented ongoing research funded by ESPON. The ESCAPE project explores the challenges of European shrinking rural areas and aims to improve the evidence base for policy interventions. His presentation discussed different types of shrinking and their drivers, raising the question to what extent demography is an agent or rather a consequence in the process. Sabrina Lucatelli, Senior Expert of Public Policy and Vice Chair of the OECD Rural Working Group, presented the Italian Inner Areas Strategy. The Strategy targets 72 selected areas across Italy, covering almost 17% of the territory and 3% of the population. It aims to empower territories and people to restore growth and well-being, using a combination of different EU and domestic funding sources. There is a strong focus on young people, not least through many interventions in the area of education. Francesco Mantino from the Italian Council for Research in Agriculture and Economics presented his research on interlinkages between the Inner Areas Strategies and rural development policies. He showed the close relation between the Inner Areas Strategies and the LEADER instrument, which in many cases goes beyond simple additionality and complementarity. Instead, he identified policy synergies, not least due to differences in thematic orientation of the two policies. Robin Clarke from Highlands and Islands Enterprise presented their research on young people and the Highlands and Islands. The most recent study from 2018 follows on from similar research carried out in 2015 and 2009. He showed that regional attractiveness for young people is based on longer term economic considerations (e.g. quality job opportunities with career progression prospects, low cost of living) and social elements that enhance life in the region, including affordable housing and access to essential services.
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‘Putting Inclusion at the Heart of ‘Closing the Gap’’: South Lanarkshire Research and Development Project Dr Joan Mowat, together with Jonathan Firth and Dr Anna Beck, all School of Education, have been taking forward a new research and development project with two Learning Communities in South Lanarkshire Council – Calderside and Duncanrig. The project focusses on collaborative practitioner with the aim of ‘Putting Inclusion at the Heart of Closing the Gap’. Through delivered inputs and coaching sessions, support is put in place for teams of teachers within each learning community to take forward practitioner enquiry of relevance to their professional context. At the end of the process, participants will disseminate their work at a dissemination event bringing both learning communities together. An application to the School of Education ethics committee has been put forward to evaluate this work and its impact, but also to investigate the utility of collaborative practitioner enquiry as a vehicle for school improvement.
The Scottish Physical Restraint Action Group Here in Scotland, with a national focus firmly on promoting and protecting children’s rights, and on improving the care system, physical restraint in residential child care has featured in discussions about the care of children and young people. From questions raised about the place physical restraint has as a sometimes necessary, and containing response to children’s pain-based behaviour; to calls to abolish the use of restraint, as we have seen during the course of the Scottish Parliament’s scrutiny of new proposed legislation to end the physical punishment of children, this important issue is being debated and considered at all levels. At this year’s Scottish Institute of Residential Child Care (SIRCC) Conference, a powerful plenary presentation by Dr Laura Steckley, Senior Lecturer at the School of Social Work & Social Policy, brought together new academic research with the views of people with lived experience of being physically restrained, and the perspectives of practitioners involved in restraining children. The session questioned how to reduce, and where possible eliminate, physical restraint in residential child care establishments, and where restraint does occur, how this can be experienced as an act of care rather than brutality.
Policy and practice impact
17 These questions called the residential child care workforce to start an ongoing process to try to make things better. A collective group, including practitioners, managers, care experienced people, academics, and regulators, and facilitated by CELCIS, formed to continue the conversation, focusing on seeking out and engaging with consideration, the different voices, perspectives, and issues. This group, the Scottish Physical Restraint Action Group, is determined to ensure any future changes and progress made regarding restraint in Scotland incorporates the broadest range of views and experiences, and is built on a robust engagement with the relevant complexities so that unintended consequences that come at the cost of children and young people are avoided. The Group is also strengthening and building on existing relationships with the wider children’s sector.
The article argues that while the LGBT Action Plan represents a significant UK government commitment towards LGBTQI+ equalities, there is still room for improvement. Using empirical examples, it examines how progress for LGBTQI+ lives is discursively constructed and positioned in the LGBT Action Plan and in accompanying politicians’ speeches. Read now the full article or a shorter version on the British Sociological Association’s ‘Everyday Society’ platform Professor Yvette Taylor will be presenting a version of the paper at The Australian Sociological Association (TASA), Nov. 2019, as part of her visiting professorship at the University of Western Sydney.
Following the plenary, the Group agreed on themes they wished to explore further in relation to physical restraint in residential child care. These were: to examine current practice; explore the systems in which restraint occurs; listen to the voices of everyone involved; consider the use of language; and consider the impact of the use of restraint. Since then, the Group has refined this further and is currently working on what we already know in relation to physical restraint in residential care and what we still need to find out, with a view towards informing a wider research agenda. The next meeting will also look at membership of the Group, how the Group will influence others, what they need to know, and how the voice of young people fit into this in a fully inclusive way. Members of the Group have also contributed to a series of blog posts covering a range of areas of concern - from stigma to containment, criminalisation to system complexity - in order to stimulate and widen the debate. These can be read on the CELCIS website.
EU Project Publication Comparing Intersectional Lifecourse Inequalities Among LGBTQI+ Citizens in Four European Countries (CILIA-LGBTQI+)
Prof Yvette Taylor
Professor Yvette Taylor, Principal Investigator of CILIA-LGBTQI+, and Dr Matson Lawrence, Research Associate, have recently published an article in Critical Social Policy, examining constructions of inclusion and progress: ‘The UK Government LGBT Action Plan: Discourses of progress, enduring stasis, and LGBTQI+ lives ‘getting better’’. This follows their Engage with Strathclyde 2019 event ‘From Section 28 to LGBTQI+ ‘Inclusion’? Legacies, tensions and trajectories in education’, which brought together panelists including Titi Farukuoye, the then Vice President (Diversity), Strathclyde Students’ Association, and utilised material from the Lesbian Archive at Glasgow Women’s Library.
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18 COSLA 3rd Sector Research Forum Conference 2019 ‘Collaborating for Impact’ Dr Joan Mowat, School of Education, together with Dr Gale MacLeod, University of Edinburgh, Amy Woodhouse, Joint Acting Chief Executive of Children in Scotland and Patricia Lyon, School Project Manager, Place2Be, presented a workshop at the COSLA 3rd Sector conference which took place on the 9th of October in Edinburgh. The focus of the workshop was the outcomes and routes to impact arising from the Scottish Universities Insight Institute (SUII) Seminar Series, ‘Poverty, attainment and wellbeing: Making a difference to lives of children and young people.’ Joan introduced the aims and focus of the seminar series and routes to impact and Gale discussed the complexities around making research ‘real’. A short video of the work undertaken with children at St Rose of Lima Primary School and Inverclyde Academy, focussing on their sense of belonging to school, was shown. Thereafter, participants had the opportunity to discuss the Research Briefs relevant to their professional context, leading into a panel discussion. Our 3rd sector partners spoke very warmly of their participation and Amy Woodhouse said that the Research Briefs and Key Recommendations gave a mandate for the work they were undertaking in Scotland to improve the lives of children and young people. The workshop was very warmly received.
National Islands Plan On 3 October 2019, the PROPOSED National Islands Plan was laid before the Scottish Parliament and on 8 October the Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands, Mr Paul Wheelhouse, presented the PROPOSED National Islands Plan to Parliament. The Plan lays out 13 strategic objectives and 104 commitments that touch upon many crucial sectors that have been identified by island communities throughout the consultation. Transport and tackling depopulation are particularly important areas, but the Plan recognises that island communities do not work and live in silos and that all issues need a holistic and integrated policy approach.
SCELG Co-Director, Dr Francesco Sindico commented on the work undertaken so far: “It has been a tremendous pleasure to work with the Scottish Government Islands Team in the implementation of the Islands (Scotland) Act. Together with SCELG PhD researcher, Nicola Crook, I had the opportunity to be part of one of the widest consultation exercised ever undertaken on Scottish islands and we now look forward to continuing our fruitful collaboration with Scottish Government.”
Seminar on Poverty and Crossparty group membership Dr Joan Mowat gave a guest seminar at the University of Dundee on Monday 18th of November. The focus of the seminar was on ‘Poverty, attainment and wellbeing: the importance of transitions’. The seminar brought together recent published papers focussing on the transition from Primary to Secondary school and the link between poverty, attainment and wellbeing. The key argument forwarded is that, while a good transition is important for all children, children living in poverty may potentially have a range of risk factors which make it more likely that they may experience a less smooth transition. There is a need for interventions which focus on the socio-emotional aspects of the transition. Dr Mowat has also been invited to join the Scottish Parliament Cross-party Group on Children and Young People focusing on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), led by Iain Gray MSP, following on from a consultation on how to incorporate the UNCRC into Scots law. The focus of the initial meeting, which took place at the Scottish Parliament on the 5th of November, was the potential impact of BREXIT on children and young people in Scotland.
The Plan, to which the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance (SCELG) has provided technical advice, presents itself as a fair, integrated, green and inclusive Plan. Noticeably, the Plan makes a strong reference to the recent human rights developments in Scotland, to which SCELG is also heavily involved. Meanwhile a rigorous process has started to develop an implementation strategy that will accompany the Plan in order to make it a meaningful tool to improve outcomes for island communities. Dr Joan Mowat
Policy and practice impact
19 Joutes oratoire The third edition of the ‘Joutes oratoire’ (or debating competition) between the universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde took place this November. It was organised by the Alliance Française de Glasgow as an event before the screening of the French documentary ‘Libre’ (To the four winds) as part of the 27th French Film Festival. After arguing difficult questions such as le citoyen peut-il s’opposer à l’état ? Can citizens oppose the state ? and Peuton faire justice soi-même? Can citizens take the law into their own hands? , the Strathclyde team was delighted when the jury declared they had been the more convincing team of the two. Well done to Simran Sahota, (Hns French + Italian), Paul Farrell (Hns LLB Law + French), Ewan Nicholson (Hns LLB Law + French), Marina Gladkikh (MSci Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering + 2nd year French), Lucy Allan (2nd year French + Spanish) and Jack Patton (2nd year Politics + French) ! More information about the event can be found here.
EPRC Blog on Cohesion Policy: How much would the UK have got? A new blog from EPRC takes a fresh look at the Commission proposals for Cohesion policy 2021-27 from a UK perspective in the light of updated GDP and other statistical data. As the UK prepares for regional policy without the Structural Funds, the focus of the blog is on how the UK Cohesion policy map would have looked, the scale of funding and how it might have been distributed among the four nations. This analysis shows not only that UK Cohesion policy allocations would have increased substantially, but also that the distribution of the funds between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland under the new proposals would differ significantly from the shares in 2014-20. This in turn calls into question the extent to which EU funding allocations might be used as a basis for deciding future shares of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund or other regional development policy, and if so, whether the past or the future is the best guide. The full blog is available online.
Climate change event at Parliament Prof Elisa Morgera contributed to an event organized by the Scottish Parliament titled Climate Change, Climate Justice & Human Rights: A Scottish Perspective, where members of the Members of the Scottish Parliament’s Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee commented on the passage of Scotland’s recent Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Bill and the creation of the United Kingdom’s first Just Transition Commission. Prof Morgera illustrated the relevance for climate justice of the 2018 recommendations from the First Minister’s Advisory Group on Human Rights Leadership and the opportunities for transformational change across all sectors towards a low-carbon, inclusive economy that promotes and safeguards citizens’ environmental human rights under the new national task force for the development of a legal framework on human rights for Scotland.
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PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT EVENTS Research Night at the MuseumExplorathon
Psychology Public Engagement lecture
Three members of staff from the School of Psychological Sciences and Health represented the faculty at the 2019 Explorathon (European Researchers Night) event on Friday 27th of September, at the Glasgow Riverside Museum. Dr. David Robertson’s ‘Are you a super-face-recogniser?’ workshop returned for its third year, with more than 100 members of the public taking part over the course of the evening, Dr. Lynn William’s stall highlighted the excellent work she is doing on her CSO funded ‘Flu Vaccination Project’, and Dr. Mario Parra Rodriquez displayed his exciting and novel approval to Alzheimer’s treatment, using the very latest in virtual reality technology. From the School of Social Work & Social Policy, Prof Daniela Sime engaged the public with debates around issues of migration, cultural diversity and the implications of Brexit for young people.
On the evening of Thursday 17th of October, PSH held their inaugural Strathclyde Psychology Public Engagement Lecture in the TIC Main Auditorium supported by Strategic Themes, and in partnership with Waterstones. The speaker was bestselling popular science author Richard Wiseman, the UK’s only current Professor for the Public Understanding of Psychology. The event was attended by nearly 300 people, the majority of which were members of the general public, the talk received an incredibly positive response from the audience, and nearly 100 of Richard’s books were subsequently purchased and signed by the end of the evening. Based on the positive response to this event, organised Dr. David Robertson is hopeful that this can now become an annual event in our calendar.
Public Engagement Events
21 40th Anniversary EoRPA Conference What Role for Regional Policies in an Unequal Europe? The 40th Anniversary EoRPA Conference took place on 9 October 2019 at Scotland House in Brussels. It celebrated four decades of research and knowledge exchange under the European Regional Policy Research Consortium – undertaken by the European Policies Research Centre and funded by national and regional government authorities from 12 countries. The Conference was a retrospective on 40 years of regional policy analysis, the current state of play, and the potential future directions for regional policy in Europe given current events and trends. In front of an audience of c.100 participants from national and regional government authorities, EU institutions, academia, think tanks and NGOs, the Conference involved presentations from government ministers and senior officials from across Europe, as well as contributions from EPRC directors Professor John Bachtler and Professor Fiona Wishlade.
Brain Health Day Showcases Strathclyde Intergenerational School Project On 28th August, Dr Louise Nicholls, based in the School of Psychological Sciences and Health, contributed to Heriot-Watt University’s Brain Health Day. The event showcased research investigating what might keep us sharp as we age. Louise presented her team’s ongoing research exploring the impacts of primary school-based intergenerational engagement on the health and wellbeing of older adult volunteers. Their 6-month pilot programme has been taking place in primary schools in West Lothian. Volunteers aged 60-85 assist teachers in the classroom by helping young school pupils to develop their literacy and numeracy. The research team, which includes PhD student Anna Krzeczkowska at its core, is primarily interested in the potential benefits for the volunteers’ intellectual abilities, like memory and attention, and their physical and social wellbeing. However, the programme is also intended to benefit school staff and pupils, and the team is also addressing outcomes for these groups. The programme has been going well, with most volunteers choosing to continue helping Schools beyond the 6-month duration of the project. Brain Health Day was a great success, attracting over 200 people, most of whom were older adults from the local community, and many expressed great interest in the intergenerational programme. A range of organisations were also in attendance, including Age UK, who published an article about the event. In ‘Six things we learned at Brain Health Day’, Age UK highlighted the promise of intergenerational engagement. The team’s research project is now entering its final phase, and findings are expected next year.
The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin [ People & Society - Winter 2019, Issue No.5 ]
22 Estranged Students in Further and Higher Education
Submission to Inquiry into Facial Recognition
Prof Yvette Taylor (School of Education) received a second invitation to speak at the Scottish Parliament on estranged students. The event was attended by MSPs and a wide variety of widening participation practitioners, including Strathclyde’s Dr Stephanie McKendry and Louise Marin.
Angela Daly, Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Internet Law & Policy in the School of Law, has made a submission to the Scottish Parliament Justice Committee Inquiry on Facial Recognition, with some media coverage in The Herald, Scotsman and STV. See Angela’s and other submissions to this important Inquiry here.
Yvette is Principal Investigator on projects funded by Carnegie and Society for Research into Higher Education, and works with Dr Cristina Costa (Co-I, Durham University), and HaSS PhD students, Sidonie Ecochard and Claire Goodfellow. Together, they have recently organised an ESRC Festival of Social Science event on this issue, and continue to collaborate with the charity Stand Alone. The charity campaigns for universities and colleges to sign the Stand Alone Pledge supporting estranged students. The team have produced a user-friendly guide ‘Estrangement: Illustrating the Issues’ available here. Their article is now available in Cambridge Journal of Education: Costa, C., Taylor, Y., Ecochard, S., & Goodfellow, C. (2019) ‘Estranged students in higher education: navigating social and economic capitals’
Talk at Dumfries Sheriff Court Prof Kenneth Norrie has given a recent talk at Dumfries Sheriff Court on the subject of Children’s Hearings and recent case law. Professor Norrie gave a talk to local solicitors about recent case law developments in children’s hearings. This is a highly relevant topic in court because of the number of cases and hearing appeals which are generated throughout this geographically large region. Professor Norrie’s talk was very well attended by members of the local Faculty of Solicitors, one of the sheriff officers, and also by local reporters from the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration. He encouraged questions and interaction and there was much spirited debate about experiences within this court of challenging cases, and the interaction between the case law, procedure at panel hearings and the appeal process. The local faculty and the Reporters were delighted with his contribution.
Strathclyde University Feminist Research Network Seminar series Wednesday January 22nd 2020 3-5pm Manufacturing the Natural Order Presenter: Dr. Francesca Coin (Lancaster University) *** Wednesday February 26th 2020 3-5pm Presenter: Dr. Daniel Conway (University of Westminster) *** Wednesday March 18th 2020 3pm-5pm The autobiographical in auto-photography: exploring a feminist approach to co-creating knowledge of women’s sexuality Presenter: Dr. Evangeline Tsao (University of York) *** Wednesday May 20th 2020 3pm-5pm Presenter: Dr. Ruth Lewis (University of Glasgow)
Public Engagement Events
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PROFILE: NICE TO MEET YOU Professor Alan Miller Professor of Practice, Human Rights Law
Hello, Alan! You were appointed as a Professor of Practice in the Law School in August this year, but I believe you’re not new to Strathclyde. Can you tell us about your previous experience here? Hi. I go back some way at Strathclyde! After graduating from elsewhere, I travelled and lived abroad for almost 10 years. On my return in the 1980s, I still needed to pass tax and accountancy before I could get a legal practising certificate. Strathclyde was the only institution which recognised that I couldn’t attend the regular day classes due to work commitments and so arranged evening classes for me. I had little money, couldn’t afford to replace a faulty starter motor and so I could also kick start my old car on the hilly streets of the campus and make it home to Ayrshire afterwards! Later, I was invited to become a Visiting Professor. This was at the time of the introduction of the Scotland Act and the Human Rights Act over 20 years ago now and I had gone on to practice law, become President of the Glasgow Bar Association and head a human rights NGO. I have taught at undergraduate level and then on the LLM Human Rights ever since. This is why my heart belongs to Strathclyde at the centre of Glasgow, which is the most humane and humorous city I have experienced from much travel around the world! How did you come to work in the field of human rights? Oh, it has been a long and winding road! As a child of the 1960s and then becoming a law student, I was disappointed that the teaching seemed to be about “small” things and I was more interested in the “big” things that were happening in the world. So I took off into the world, the “university of life” as it was referred to then, and soon I wanted to be part of changing that world and that led me towards human rights. Once back in Scotland I ran a legal aid practice in Castlemilk in the 80s and 90s, then a consultancy in international human rights law, before becoming elected by the Scottish Parliament in 2007 as the founding Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission. From there I became elected as the Chair of the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions and then became Special Envoy of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions and began working with the UN in advocacy and capacity-building. I have now recently been appointed by the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, as the Independent Co-Chair of the National Task Force for Human Rights Leadership to help lead a participative process to prepare a Bill to establish a new human rights framework for
Scotland, including internationally recognised human rights from the UN human rights treaties. So, as I say, quite a long and winding road! What do you hope to achieve in your new role as Professor of Practice? Well, I hope quite a lot! For sure, to work more closely with colleagues like Dr Elaine Webster and others to help develop the Centre for the Study of Human Rights law into a centre of excellence nationally and internationally. More than that would hopefully be to contribute to multi-disciplinary cooperation across the university in helping it further develop as a leader in the promotion of the Sustainable Development Goals. This where it is at for any university wanting to demonstrate leadership in addressing today’s global challenges, particularly climate change. What are you currently working on alongside your new role? As I mentioned above, I have been appointed by the First Minister as Independent Co-Chair of the National Task Force for Human Rights Leadership. So, this means helping lead a participative process in the preparation of a Bill introducing a new human rights framework for Scotland. Its aim is to improve people’s lives and support the international rules-based order which is under real pressure in these times. What inspires you? People of all kinds whom I have met around the world - their common humanity and dignity, resilience, aspirations and humour born from surviving adversity. Looking ahead 5-10 years, what are your hopes for human rights practice in Scotland? Well, it is probably more than hope! Human rights practice in Scotland will become more about what it means to be human. I have seen in my life real changes happen throughout Scotland’s human rights journey. Yesterday, the public discourse was about quite nebulous “civil liberties”, today it is about “human rights”, although only mainly civil and political rights, tomorrow it will be about the full range of internationally recognised modern human rights – not only civil and political at present like fair trial and privacy rights, but economic, social, cultural and environmental like the rights to an adequate standard of living, to housing, food, health, education, way of life and, increasingly urgently, a healthy environment. In other words, what is needed to live a life of human dignity. Can you tell us about a recent book you’ve read that had an impact on you? It has been a joy to read a newly published book written by a colleague and personal friend, Constitution Street by Jemma Neville. And as since the festive season is upon is the final question is, what do you hope Santa will bring you? Well, I hope that I have dropped enough hints already within the family – a pop up table tennis table! All work and no play is not good for anyone!
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MASTERS STUDENTSHIP SPONSORED BY COLLEAGUES IN HASS The University of Strathclyde, the Alumni and Development Office, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dame Emma Thompson and – crucially – 11 generous academic members of HaSS all clubbed together earlier this year to crowdfund a Masters Studentship for Rusul Yousif, who is taking International Relations, Law and Security. The support and expertise of Michelle Stewart, HaSS Head of Internationalisation, was also invaluable in putting all the pieces together, liaising with all the parties involved and resolving any logistical problems. The HaSS staff (Arthur McIvor, Kirstie Blair, Churnjeet Mahn, Edward Sosu, Jonathan Delafield-Butt, Claire McDiarmid, Douglas Brodie, Nicole Busby, Joanne Cleland, Tony Anderson and Daniela Sime) dipped into their research budgets for their contribution and we’d encourage similarly innovative approaches in future. From left to right: Matt Smith, Edward Sosu, Jonathan Delafield-Butt, Mark Irvine, Tony Anderson, Claire McDiarmid, Rusul Yousif, Jenny Aitchison and Tindy Agaba.
HASS IMPACT PRIZE AWARDS 2020 The new HaSS Impact Prize is an annual opportunity to recognise and reward the successes in our Faculty on projects which are making a difference and are achieving outstanding societal impacts. A prize of £100 is awarded to the winners of each category. The application is open to all staff, independent of stage of their career or contract type.
Outstanding Impact for Policy This prize will recognise research that has contributed to the development of public policy at the local, regional or national government level. This could include direct changes in policy, changes to how decision makers view issues, and the development of more effective and efficient practice by professionals or the users of public services. Entries should be supported by evidence that the research has been taken up and used by policy makers and public service practitioners.
There are four prize categories:
Outstanding Impact for Society This prize will recognise research that has made a contribution benefitting a specific group within the public or society more widely. This could include impacts arising from working with local or community groups, charities or wider society.
Outstanding International Impact This prize will recognise research that has achieved impact at an international level across countries in business, policy or societal issues.
Early Career Impact This prize will recognise social scientists at the beginning of their academic careers who have achieved or show potential in achieving outstanding impacts in any of the above categories. This includes current PhD students and early career academics in their first three years post-PhD. An application form is now available through RAKET’s Sharepoint site. Closing deadline: 28 February 2020
HASS Impact Prize Awards 2020
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
