Public engagement and media events

English academic Andrew Meehan releases novel

English and Creative Writing academic Andrew Meehan appeared on BBC Radio Scotland’s Afternoon Show to discuss the publication of his latest novel, The Mystery of Love, a witty re-imagining of the relationship between Oscar and Constance Wilde. The book was released on February 6th and has already been receiving some very impressive newspaper reviews.

The Mystery of Love, Andrew’s second novel, is a fictional account of the marriage of Oscar and Constance Wilde and was published by Head of Zeus Books.

In their review of the novel, The Independent wrote: “It would take an audacious writer not just to put words into the mouth of Ireland’s best-known wit, but also to reimagine the relationship between Oscar Wilde and his wife Constance. Andrew Meehan has already proved himself a brilliantly inventive writer with his 2017 debut, One Star Awake. [...] The story of Oscar and Constance has long been compelling: under Meehan’s astute eye, even more so. Yet even if The Mystery of Love wasn’t written about these two enchanting figures, it’s a wonderful read in its own right.”

The Herald magazine featured an essay from Strathclyde Creative Writing academic Andrew Meehan in their most recent edition on Saturday March 7th. In the essay, Andrew shared the emotional story that informed the writing of his new novel, The Mystery of Love. The publication of this essay came in advance of Andrew’s forthcoming appearance at the Aye Write Festival, where Andrew was due to read from and discuss the novel. However, due to the Covid-19, this event was cancelled for 2020.

Further to this, Andrew was interviewed again by The Herald Magazine in April 2020 to discuss the books and poetry that shaped him.

BBC Horizon – The Great British Intelligence Test

Have you ever wondered how intelligent you are, and whether it’s possible to boost your brain power? In February, Dr Louise Nicholls, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, was interviewed as part of an special episode of BBC Horizon, the BBC’s flagship science programme.

The BBC has asked the nation to complete a series of online tests, looking at how well we can process and remember different types of information, such as words and visual patterns. After completing the tests, which takes around 30 minutes, participants receive an overview of their performance, and how it stacks up relative to everyone else who took part.

In the programme, Louise explains working memory, which is our ability to process and temporarily retain information moment-tomoment, and crucial in everyday life. She describes spatial working memory in detail, the ability to take in and remember spatial locations and relationships. This ability is involved in a variety of daily activities, such as driving, or planning the best route to walk to a particular location, for example. Participants in the studio played a location memory game, which taps into this ability. They were shown a series of spatial locations, one after the other, and then asked to move around the locations in the same sequence. This is a task that always proves challenging!

The programme also addresses different mental training or lifestyle factors that can possibly benefit our brain power, such as the potential impacts of video gaming. Some evidence exists to suggest that video gaming can hone spatial working memory

skills. However, there’s a lot still to learn on this topic, such as the precise source of any gaming benefits, and the optimal time spent on gaming so as not to deprive other skills and abilities. The programme considers a range of other interesting factors that can also influence intelligence test performance, including personality and age. It should make for an interesting watch!

To take the test, and for further information about the programme which aired on 4th May, please visit the programme website.

Glasgow Skeptics/Strathclyde Psychology Public Engagement Talk – Matt Dillahunty

On 16th of December 2019, Glasgow Skeptics, in partnership with Strathclyde Psychology (Dr. David Robertson), hosted Matt Dillahunty for a public engagement talk on rational thinking, scepticism and some magic thrown in for good measure. It was a sell-out event with nearly 300 members of the general public in attendance. Matt regularly shares a stage with figures such as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, and he gave an entertaining and thought provoking talk. It is hoped that the partnership with Glasgow Skeptics and Strathclyde can now be developed further.

economic support directly to people who have been most affected by the crisis. Watch Matt’s Faculty lecture on UBI or read his blog in the Conversation on how UBI could improve mental health.

Academics in the news discussing Covid

Universal basic income and mental health

Since 2019, Matt Smith has given a series of public and invited lectures about universal basic income (UBI) and mental health. These have included two lectures for the mental health charity Mind’s leadership retreat, one for the Royal College of Psychiatrists of Scotland’s 25th anniversary conference, one for the University of Aberdeen’s Psychology Society and an inaugural lecture at TIC, which attracted over 450 registrants. Reflecting on insights from post-war social psychiatric research in North America, Smith argues that UBI could help prevent mental illness by reducing poverty, alleviating inequality and promoting social cohesion. Since the Covid-19 pandemic emerged, Smith has been actively promoting the potential benefits of UBI in providing

Several colleagues were in the news, discussing the implications of the current lockdown situation for mental health, relationships and well-being for people and current policy decisions. Here’s a selection:

Dr Megan Crawford, Psychological Sciences & Health, discussed on BBC Women’s Hour (minute 00:35 ff) if people are dreaming more during lockdown Dr Nicola Cogan, Psychological Sciences & Health, was cited in an article about the impact of lockdown on our relationships, in the National Prof Matt Smith, Humanities, wrote a blog for the Conversation on how UBI could improve mental health. Prof Kat Smith, Social Work & Social Policy, appeared on BBC Debate Night discussing Scottish Government’s current approach to lockdown