In Episode 8 of our podcast, recorded at the SWDTP’s Collaboration and Connectivity Conference in 2022, Georgina Richards from the University of Bath tells us about her PhD research into green social prescribing and the role of volunteers in creating wellbeing.
Author: Brendan Walsh
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Let’s Collaborate with Felipe on gold mining in the Amazon
In Episode 7 of our podcast, recorded at the SWDTP’s Collaboration and Connectivity Conference in 2022, Felipe Neves from the University of Bath discusses his PhD research into the sustainability of artisanal gold mining in the Amazon basin.
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Dr Abi Dymond Impact Interview
Dr Abi Dymond was an ESRC funded PhD student from 2013 to 2016. Abi’s PhD research drew on elements from criminology, sociology and law, used quantitative and qualitative techniques, from binary logistic regression to actor-network theory, to examine the controversies around tasers and less lethal weapons in the UK.
Abi won the ESRC Impact Prize for Outstanding Early Career Impact in 2018 and is now a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology at the University of Exeter.
Have a look at the video below with Abi detailing the impact of her research.
Check it out here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSInMQMudEo
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Journeys with Mindfulness – Chloe Asker
Chloe’s doctoral research (funded by the SWDTP) was based on the lived experiences of and ‘journeys’ with mindfulness. As part of the research Chloe worked with a group of participants, tracing their experiences of mindfulness as both a meditation practice but also as a way of living. Over the course of two mindfulness courses and follow up interviews, she witnessed the transformative effect that mindfulness had on their lives.
Frustrated with the unreadability of a 100,000 word PhD thesis, Chloe was keen to create something accessible that could communicate the transformative experiences that the participants had shared and decided on a zine based on a chapter of her thesis.
To make the booklet interactive and mindful in its format, the zine includes a colouring page in the centre fold, along with three illustrated postcards.
Journeys with mindfulness is free to download here as a pdf, or you can read it on issu here. You can also request a printed copy of the zine and postcards here (these are free with a postage contribution).
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Black Future Doctor podcast on Acast – Nina Higson-Sweeney
Black Future Dr is a podcast dedicated to showcasing the experiences of black and black mixed doctoral students in the UK (including those pursuing PhDs, as well as professional and medical doctorates).
Episodes were released weekly from April to July 2021, and featured a different student, studying a different doctorate, at a different university. Every episode is hosted by an SWDTP student Nina Higson-Sweeney, a black mixed student currently studying towards a PhD in Psychology at the University of Bath.
Each episode featured an informal interview between Nina and a host of guest speakers. Topics discussed range from supervision to mentorship; from non-traditional pathways to mental health; from the application processes to future careers.
You can keep up-to-date with Black Future Dr and Nina on Twitter (@BlackFutureDr and @n_higsonsweeney).
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Experience of COP26 – Emily Marsay
Emily Marsay is a part-time PhD researcher in Politics & international studies at the University of Exeter. For the past 7 years, she has been volunteering with a climate change campaigning organisation: the ‘UK Youth Climate Coalition’ www.ukycc.com.
This organisation sends a youth delegation to the COP negotiations every year, and Emily was fortunate enough to get her accreditation to COP this year through them. COP26 was largely considered to be the most exclusionary COP yet, with many activists from the Global South not being able to join the negotiations due to vaccine inequity, uncertainty and the high costs of travel and accommodation. Emily joined a sponsored bike ride Glasgow from London to raise money for youth climate justice activists from Brazil to be able to come to the negotiations. Find the fundraiser here!
Upon finishing the sponsored bike ride, Emily attended ‘COY16’ the – ‘Conference of Youth’ that took place before the official COP26. While at the COP26 negotiations, Emily protested in actions in the Blue Zone, an interview from one of which got picked up in the Irish Times! See the link here.
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How do we ensure a just transition to a climate resilient Bristol? – Dr Alice Venn
Alumni Dr Alice Venn and colleague Dr Alix Dietzel have recently wrapped up a yearlong study focusing on just transition to a climate resilient city of Bristol. Their findings were widely covered in the UK media, including the BBC, Bristol Cable and the Independent.
Their project sought to find out what happens once a city sets out to pursue such a transition, as Bristol did in its One City Climate Change Plan. They wanted to know: is a just transition being interpreted and how is it being pursued? Who is involved in this process ‘on the ground’? Is their decision-making fair and inclusive? What are the barriers and what are the opportunities to just transition?
They found an alarming lack of diversity in decision making, very little room for critical debate, and confusion about how to achieve the One City Climate Change Plan’s ambitious targets in an inclusive manner.
Watch the recording below or read more here
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“Why Big Boys Don’t Cry” Tedx Talk – Gareth Griffith
Gareth Griffith talked about mental health in a sell-out TEDx event with over 200 attendees at the Bristol’s SU building. The theme was ‘Finding Space’ and Gareth reports he was “equal parts excited and terrified” to speak at @TEDxBristolUni.
“Talks are all incredible, it was a truly inspiring day with truly inspiring people. Thanks again to everyone else who came and made the day what it was. Let’s keep #findingspace to talk about mental health”
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‘An Unequal Playing Field’: Social Mobility Commission Report – Sam Whewall and Kaylan Kumar
Sam Whewall and Kalyan Kumar were both part of the the team who co-authored a report for the Social Mobility Commission.
‘An Unequal Playing Field‘ delves into extra-curricular activities and highlights disparities in children’s participation rates depending on their social background. It includes recommendations made by the Social Mobility Commission for government, schools and voluntary organisations, including the introduction of a national extra-curricular bursary scheme for disadvantaged families.
Sam wrote about the report in an article for the blog Transforming Society titled ‘Summer holidays and the geography of extra-curricular activities’ here.
The study has also been covered in a variety of media outlets, including The Guardian, Classic Fm and Phys.org. You can see the full report on the Gov.uk website here
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Gender, War and the Armed Forces – Hannah West
Congratulations to Hannah West (University of Bath, Security, Conflict and Human Rights) on being invited to join the Advanced Command and Staff Course at the UK Defence Academy (as shown above) for their module on Gender, War and the Armed Forces. This gave Hannah a platform to speak about her research at their end of course workshop.
Hannah said: “As an ex-military researcher it was stimulating to return to a military environment and share a critical perspective with the audience, provoking interesting debates around the gendered character of the military institution.”
Hannah’s also been utilising her creative side to produce a pair of videos based around her research and experiences.
‘Uniformly Served: Veterans in Conversation‘, which was funded by the SWDTP Impact Fund, involves eight local veterans, including a cross-section of ages, former ranks and services and captures conversations between them about their gendered reflections on military service.
’She’ll Hold Her Own’ is a music video that captures Hannahs reflections on the gendered experience of military service and explores her reflections on her gendered experiences of military masculinity and femininity.
Both videos as well as more information and lyrics are available at Hannah’s blog: https://hannah-west.org/