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De-stigmatising mental ill-health through creative arts practice
How do you give a voice to vulnerable adults with mental health issues? How can the voices of the past effect change in the 21st Century? Dr Rob Ellis’ research was developed in response to the need for mental health organisations to understand the lived experience of mental ill-health and the demand to give these vulnerable adults a voice in policy-making and practice.
For more information on the research in this article email: r.ellis@hud.ac.uk and or visit pure.hud.ac.uk
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Training session with National Trust staff at Little Moreton Hall
Patient perspectives
In 2010, Dr Ellis was invited to collaborate with Leeds City Museums and the Thackray Medical Museum on an exhibition on mental ill-health. His research placed patient perspectives at the heart of the exhibition.
This partnership with Leeds led to further work on the histories of mental-ill health and learning disabilities, including a role as Visiting Research Fellow at the Mental Health Museum. In 2013, he worked in partnership with St Anne’s Community Services and Leeds Mencap, and received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for a project called ‘Heritage and Stigma’. For this project, Dr Ellis facilitated the collection of a body of research in the form of service-user testimonies, oral histories and material culture that fed into two co-produced exhibitions ‘Nothing with us: without us’ and ‘Our minds our histories’.
Absent voices
As a result of these projects, Dr Ellis began to explore the themes of patient stigma and absent voices in the presentation of public histories. This included a longer-term history of the Mental Health Museum. In 2017 Dr Ellis explored the nature of collaboration and the challenges of viewing service users as people first and foremost in the historical record. Patient/service users often left no written records behind, other than those written for them or mediated by medical professionals and administrators. The resulting article considered developments in mental health care in the past and issues that shape services in the present and stressed that the future of collaborations between historians and community groups required a closer understanding of historical voices.
Left: Feedback from a session with service users at the Mitsuaki Centre
Performance of ‘I have Strings’ – New Vic Theatre
Research impact
Through a working partnership with the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Dr Ellis’ research led to the co-creation of a play (I have Strings) in 2018 and the ‘Bag of Tricks’ resource kit in 2019. The play has been used in schools to prompt discussion around mental wellbeing in school age children. The kit has provided training for mental health and social care practitioners in England and Japan from a range of organisations, including local authorities, NHS Trusts, the NSPCC, Mind and the Mitsuaki Centre, and provided a catalyst for organisational change in mental health provision at the National Trust. The resource has also enabled vulnerable individuals to have a voice and participate in the development of policies and procedures in such organisations.
This research has enabled social and health care providers and heritage organisations to address sector specific issues of mental ill-health and wellbeing in unprecedented ways in the UK and Japan while also empowering vulnerable individuals.
The social impact and business compliance requirements of expanding
religious food markets
Expanding markets for kosher and halal food presents significant economic opportunities, but animal slaughter for meat raises issues around business compliance and cultural and religious differences.
When slaughter without stunning was banned in Denmark in 2014, demand for non-stunned meat increased among Muslim consumers. Prepacked non-stunned meat was subsequently imported from countries such as the UK, where non-stun production is allowed, or via countries with lower standards. In the absence of a ban, and with social and political controversy increasing, UK businesses and certifiers attempted to protect commercial interests by being discrete about labelling stunned meat as halal and identifying the method of slaughter.
Global research
Dr John Lever, Professor Gerard McElwee and Dr Gareth Downing at the University of Huddersfield carried out a body of mixed methods research on the social, political and business issues linked to the global halal and kosher markets and consumer understanding in the UK, Denmark and United Arab Emirates.
Dr John Lever
Market functioning and business compliance requirements
The research revealed that although kosher and halal meat production and consumption are ultimately premised on divine order, religion is both conditioned and invigorated by the global market.
Understanding of consumer anxieties
As the halal market expanded, ambiguous media reports enhanced consumer concerns about threats to animal welfare standards and British values. Combined with growing market complexity, these developments also enhanced consumption anxieties among religious consumers about what is and is not acceptable.
Educating and informing key policy stakeholders
This research has educated and informed key policy stakeholders. It has influenced debates on non-stun slaughter and enhanced awareness of the need for business compliance and better product labelling in line with industry regulations and religious standards to enhance market transparency.
Reframing policy debate
The British Veterinary Association (BVA) is a leading advocate of banning non-stun slaughter. They recognise the significance of Dr Lever’s work on the history of kosher meat production and Jewish nonstun slaughter practice for situating and reframing their current work on halal practices. The BVA has a membership of 17,000, meaning that Dr Lever’s input has an impact across the majority of the 20,000 veterinary professionals in the UK.
Reducing consumer anxiety
The lack of meat market transparency has enhanced anxieties amongst religious and non-religious consumers, and Dr Lever has advocated for better labelling. In 2019 Dr Lever was asked to share his research with the Government as part of a debate on labelling and improving meat market transparency at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). With other stakeholders, the team of Huddersfield researchers has since developed a new meat production label.
Enhancing business compliance
The work of Dr Lever and Dr Johan Fischer from Roskilde University in Denmark has enabled the business partners of the Halal Food Authority (HFA) to understand and determine the appropriate standards and certification criteria required to capitalise on market opportunities.
For more information on the research in this article email: j.b.lever@hud.ac.uk or visit pure.hud.ac.uk
Digital re-engineering of railway safety systems
Railway companies operate safety management systems to ensure the safety of trains, staff and passengers. Safety management hinges on capturing and storing structured and unstructured data relating to the operation of the railway and the performance of their safety controls. This data is used by railway safety practitioners to better understand railway system safety risk, leading to the development of strategies to improve the safety of the railways, thereby reducing accidents, injuries and fatalities.
Professor Coen van Gulijk
Modernising reporting systems
Historically, railway safety management systems have used digital data analysis techniques sparsely, due to a lack of knowledge on how to appropriately apply these to rail datasets. Research carried out by Professor Coen van Gulijk, Peter Hughes, Dr Miguel Figueres, Dr Rawia El Rashidy and Julian Stow provided blueprints, methods and algorithms for the modernisation of reporting systems in the UK and France with Spain, Switzerland and Denmark following in their tracks. The work inspired the European Railway Agency to consider novel reporting techniques in their mandate to modernise European reporting systems as well. Their research focused on three key areas:
Natural Language Processing
Automated text analysis, referred to as Natural Language Processing (NLP), is a useful tool for the analysis of safety reports. Because standard NLP techniques do not perform well with railway jargon and poor spelling (commonplace in safety reports) they developed novel NLP approaches that dramatically improved the outputs from NLP on unstructured data. This approach was adopted by The Railway Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) (UK), Network Rail (UK), RENFE (Spain) and TNO (Netherlands).
Telemetry data analysis techniques
Railway systems, such as signalling, planning and operations, and on train data recorders (OTDR) generate immense amounts of data that are not designed to inform operational safety management systems. The research focussed on developing new data analysis techniques for use on data from trains and signalling systems. The results provide new safety key performance indicators and insights for planners including the development of the fundamental logic and algorithms for a Red Aspect Approaches to Signals (RAATS) software analysis tool, which is used to better understand the likelihood and occurrence of Signals Passed at Danger (SPAD) events, which have potentially catastrophic consequences.
Signalling data analysis techniques
On a national level the research outputs have been used by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) to develop and publish a rail risk toolkit for the Red Aspect Approaches to Signals (RAATS) tool. The tool uses signalling data to predict those signals that have high-risk red-aspect approaches. Railway operators are able to use the tool to greatly reduce risk and improve the overall flow of traffic on the network and consequently the punctuality of the service.
Digital safety system
The visualisation of results is of key importance if safety information is to be interpreted correctly. The research connected safety indicators to commercial safety software: BowTies. To some extent the work has inspired GB railway partners to work with BowTies as efficient safety management interfaces, including RSSB, Network Rail, London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). Overseas railways have followed their example, including SNCF, Renfe, Swiss FOT, ProRail, Danish Railways and even the European Railway Agency adopted elements of BowTies.
This research has helped significantly to contribute to railway safety across Europe. The findings supported the European Railway Agency in developing digital incident registration systems. The research had an impact on the development and launch of a digital safety system for the French railways SNCF.
For more information on the research in this article email: c.vangulijk@hud.ac.uk
The changing landscape of television
For more information on the research in this article email: c.johnson2@hud.ac.uk and m.j.hills@hud.ac.uk or visit pure.hud.ac.uk
With over 600 television channels in the UK and more than 300 ondemand video services licensed by Ofcom, the TV industry faces a significant challenge in connecting audiences to content. The ‘discoverability’ of television is central to the economic viability of the industry, and to the socio-cultural value (and broader survival) of public service broadcasters (PSBs).
Professor Catherine Johnson
Discovering content
How we view and navigate what we watch on television has changed considerably. The mainstream adoption of on-demand TV since the 2010s has altered the TV landscape. In the UK, 53% of households have a TV set connected to the internet, half of households subscribe to at least one subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service, 42% consider online services to be their main way of watching film and TV, and YouTube is the most watched platform by 16-24 year-olds (Ofcom, Media Nations, 2019).
Primary 1-world defaults
Research undertaken by Professor Matt Hills, Professor Catherine Johnson and Research Assistant Lauren Dempsey examines the world of on-demand TV and asks how people discover content.
Their research found that people have habitual ‘default’ ways of finding TV content to watch which often bypass industry-controlled interfaces. Most participants adopt different defaults depending on time of day, content and viewing mode (distracted/ engaged, exploratory/directed). However, the most
common default (particularly among younger participants and those with a smart TV and/or SVOD subscription) was what the research termed a ‘1-world default’: that is defaulting to the ‘world’ of a smart TV, pay-TV service and/or an SVOD and using a range of features within the world (from search and categories to recommendations and watchlists) to find content. In this research Sky and Netflix were the primary 1-world defaults.
The importance of paratexts
The research also revealed the strategies that people adopt to become aware of and decide what to watch, from a significant reliance on word of mouth, to the importance of paratexts, such as professional reviews and industry-produced ads and trailers. Routes to content were also shaped by media and technological literacy and household dynamics, with older women and younger adults more likely to lack control of the TV set. Participants found public service TV easy to find in the electronic programme guide (EPG), but less so on-demand. Although participants associated public service broadcasters (PSBs) (particularly the BBC) with quality and shared viewing experiences, they tended not to see PSBs’ VOD services as places to discover new content. At the same time, a number of younger participants associated Netflix with values typically aligned with PSB, to the detriment of the BBC in particular.
Research impact
The research has been shared with industry and policy-makers, including Ofcom (the UK media regulator), the BBC and Red Bee Media. Professor Catherine Johnson has recently been appointed as a special advisor to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee on the future of public service broadcasting, and the research findings will help to inform her work with the committee. She is also working with Red Bee Media to develop recommendations for UK and international public service broadcasters to help them to ensure that their programmes are easy to find across the wide range of platforms and services that we now use to watch television.
The impact of this research has shaped Ofcom’s research and policy discussions, facilitated the strategic development of creative businesses and informed public, industry and policy debates. Given Ofcom’s remit as the media regulator in the UK where 95% of all households own a television, the BBC’s position as the primary UK PSB and a major international broadcaster with a weekly audience of 372m around the world, and the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) membership from 56 countries across Europe, the impact has significant national and international reach.
Challenging the stereotypes of young people
Being NEET (not in education, employment or training) for extended periods can have significant negative consequences for young people, their families, for the economy and society more broadly. Young people who spend a significant time outside education and work are more prone to social isolation, poor self-esteem, low confidence, and various limiting illnesses and conditions.
They are also less likely to participate in the democratic process and often have lower levels of institutional trust relating, for example, to policing, health and social services. Economic consequences include lost tax revenue and increased expenditure on welfare.
Exploring the lives of NEET young people
Research exploring the causes of young people’s marginalisation began in 2008, with subsequent projects being funded by the Leverhulme Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
The Leverhulme project is a rare example of a major programme of longitudinal ethnographic research on the lives of NEET young people – such research being resource intensive and especially challenging given the turbulent social and cultural milieu in which participants’ lives are located. The research involved sustained engagement with over fifty participants in settings including training programmes and work placements, the careers service and job centre interviews, in young people’s homes and other social spaces.
Challenging the dominant view
The research carried out by Professor Robin Simmons, Dr Ron Thompson and Dr Lisa Russell from the Huddersfield Centre for Research in Education and Society (HudCRES) challenges the dominant view that NEET young people are lacking the necessary industry, motivation and commitment to be successful in education and work.
Their research suggests that such dispositions usually arise from repeated negative labour-market
For more information on the research in this article email:
r.a.simmons@hud.ac.uk and r.thompson@hud.ac.uk and l.russell@hud.ac.uk or visit pure.hud.ac.uk experiences rather than being inherent individual, social or cultural deficits. It also finds that many NEET young people feel highly frustrated about their position and that most of them aspire to the traditional signifiers of ‘mainstream’ adulthood – including a job, their own home and conventional family life – rather than being drawn from some incipient underclass.
Tackling marginalisation
The research findings suggest that, in most cases, the causes of young people’s marginalisation are located in a paucity of meaningful labour market opportunities more than any individual shortcomings or deficits. NEET young people are often placed on inappropriate training provision which can be de-motivating. Negative experiences of engaging with support services can also have a highly damaging effect.
However, the research also revealed that good quality employment opportunities can have a positive effect on young people’s paths to employment and that practitioners who ‘go the extra mile’ can make a real difference, in terms of facilitating access to opportunities which marginalised youth may not otherwise feel able to access.
Research impact
The research provides an alternative, evidence-based narrative which reflects the lived experience of marginalised youth. It challenges stereotypical assumptions and informs the way that policymakers, third-sector organisations and practitioners conceive and provide support designed to help re-engage NEET young people in education and work.
The University of Huddersfield has delivered training for youth and community workers for over twenty years, producing more than 600 graduates. The extensive body of NEET research is a key component of both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.
Using AI technology to support ADHD diagnosis
Professor Grigoris Antoniou
NHS waiting lists for adults with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) continue to grow. People awaiting assessment and treatment can suffer from health, relationship and work problems. Delays in diagnosis are due to current NHS practices which require a full assessment by specialist clinicians, increased awareness of the condition and financial pressures.
Using technology to automate diagnosis
Researchers at the University of Huddersfield have developed automated reasoning techniques to deal with imperfect information, which are being applied to the diagnosis of ADHD in adults. The new technology identifies clear-cut cases that can be assessed automatically, enabling timely assessments with positive benefits on patients and NHS waiting lists.
Working with the NHS
Professor Grigoris Antoniou researches the area of nonmonotonic reasoning, a family of automated reasoning approaches within knowledge representation (KR), where the knowledge being manipulated can be inconsistent or incomplete. Prior to working with the NHS on using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to diagnose ADHD, he worked with the South-West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SWYPFT) in the area of mental health, with an initial focus on automatic risk assessment of suicide.
Following the success of this project, a new collaboration was initiated on the diagnosis of ADHD in adults, funded by SWYPFT and Research England through Grow MedTech. Professor Antoniou adapted the methodology for this project working together with clinical experts and Dr Tianhua Chen performed the analysis of data from past cases of ADHD diagnosis using machine learning with a predictive accuracy of diagnostic outcome of around 90%.
AI algorithms
Key elements of the research included using the same data that clinicians use when making a clinical decision. When addressing problems in secondary care, a referral-centric approach was found to be the most suitable. It was also necessary to apply a variety of AI algorithms to accommodate the different requirements in terms of explanation and accuracy.
The hybrid AI algorithm used both data-driven and knowledge-based models to assess the clinical data of an ADHD patient. It produced three possible outcomes: positive diagnosis, negative diagnosis or requiring further assessment by a medical specialist. The predictive accuracy based on the cases considered so far is 98%. This hybrid algorithm is now used in the adult ADHD services of SWPYFT.
Making a difference
The impact of this research is twofold, benefitting both ADHD patients and supporting the NHS.
The health and wellbeing of patients was a key focus of this research and by reducing the time it takes to diagnose and treat people with ADHD they are less likely to need time off work and risk developing other issues such as self-harm and child safeguarding.
The NHS has been able to make economic savings as no new highly specialised clinicians had to be hired. It is also expected that the NHS will benefit from being able to reduce waiting lists and meet targets more effectively, by allowing it to deploy a more flexible workforce configuration safely in the context of recruitment challenges.
For more information on the research in this article email: g.antoniou@hud.ac.uk or visit pure.hud.ac.uk
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The University of Huddersfield Press was established in 2007 and has grown to become a primarily open access publisher of high quality research. The authors and editorial boards bring international research expertise and a strong orientation to practice and real-world application to their publications. The Press is keen to support emerging researchers and foster research communities by providing a platform for developing academic areas. By publishing innovative research as open access its aim is to improve access to scholarly work for the benefit of all.
Publications
Temporary Contemporary: Creating vibrant spaces to support the conditions for creative and cultural activity
This is the first book that documents and reflects on an aspect of the Temporary Contemporary initiative. Launched in 2018, Temporary Contemporary is a collaboration between the School of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Huddersfield and Kirklees Council. This collaboration, in the form of an action research project, has sought to reflect on the efficacy, meanings and wider contribution of cultural activity in Huddersfield town and beyond. It is one small part of a bigger project about the future cultural heart of Huddersfield.
https://unipress.hud.ac.uk/plugins/books/22/
ROTOR Review II
The ROTOЯ programme, launched in 2012, was a partnership between the University of Huddersfield and Huddersfield Art Gallery, funded by Arts Council England. Its aim was to provide opportunities for engaging with art, design and architecture research outside of the University. ROTOЯ Review II is a sequel to ROTOЯ Review (published 2014), focussing on the second phase of the programme with beautifully written and thoughtful reviews of the exhibitions: Thought Positions in Sculpture, China East-West, Open House: A Collaboration of Experts, Migrations and Discursive Documents by international academics and art journalists.
https://unipress.hud.ac.uk/plugins/books/21/
British Journal of Pharmacy: Is it worth the wait? Should Chloroquine or Hydroxychloroquine be allowed for immediate use in CoViD-19?
Reports that antimalarial drugs chloroquine (CQ) and hydroxychloroquine (HQ) could be used to prevent and cure the Covid-19 virus received caution from Huddersfield pharmacists in an article published in the British Journal of Pharmacy in March 2020. Dr Syed Shahzad Hasan and Dr Hamid Merchant, in collaboration with a pharmacist from Malaysia, Chia Siang Kow, of the International Medical University in Kuala Lumpur, urged for caution over claims that widely-available antimalarial drugs could be a “magic bullet” to prevent and cure Covid-19. And the medicines can – if used rashly – have serious side effects. This article presents a critical review of clinical and scientific evidence around the use of CQ and HCQ in Covid-19 and highlights the issues concerning the safety and toxicity of CQ/HCQ if permitted for general use by the public. Due to lack of evidence around CQ/HCQ in preventing Covid-19, its potential risk of fatal cardiac arrhythmia, and greater risk of self-use and harm in the developing world, it is recommended that the use of CQ/HCQ should only be initiated by specialist clinicians dealing with the Covid-19 outbreak to treat Covid-19 associated pneumonia under close cardiac monitoring.
https://www.bjpharm.org.uk/article/id/745/
Fields: An investigation to determine how the introduction of outdoor education supports learning in Key Stage One
This study focuses upon the effectiveness of outdoor education on primary school pupils in Key Stage One; regarding their engagement and behaviour. In addition to this, this study will consider pedagogical strategies that are adopted by the teacher during the delivery of outdoor lessons. Mixed methods of qualitative data collection were employed to evaluate the aim of this research. The findings of this study support the view that pupils can benefit from a different learning environment in obtaining group work skills, a difference in behaviour, more enthusiasm and a higher motivation. The strongest outcome of this research depicts that common misconceptions of outdoor education from practitioners are often what hinders pupil engagement in lessons taken outside. If teachers lack an understanding of how to promote effective outdoor lessons, it raises the question of whether this approach of education is beneficial at all.
https://www.fieldsjournal.org.uk/article/id/677/
Journal of Performance Magic: Call for Papers!
The New Normal: We are looking for work that attempts to uncover some of the crucial themes and key issues facing contemporary performance magic in light of Covid-19. The pandemic has had a significant impact on all aspects of life, including the performing arts. This has necessitated a response from performers on finding new ways to engage with their craft and community. For more details visit https://unipress.hud.ac.uk/news/104/
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