Eradicating poverty through empowerment: what’s the responsible thing to do?

Posted by Stephen Crossley, Senior Lecturer in Social Policy, Northumbria University

On this day, 17th October, in 1987, at the instigation Father Joseph Wresinski, the founder of ATD Fourth World, an anti-poverty movement, around 100,000 people congregated in Paris to honour victims of poverty, hunger, violence and fear. Five years later, and following the death of Father Wresinski, the United Nations announced the day as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, and published a resolution by the General Assembly that, amongst other things, ‘invited all states to devote the day to presenting and promoting, as appropriate in the national context, concrete activities with regard to the eradication of poverty and destitution’.

This year is the 27th anniversary of that resolution and the theme of this year’s observance is ‘Acting Together to Empower Children, their Families and Communities to End Poverty’. Themes such as this matter. How people in poverty are spoken about has consequences for how they are viewed, and the solutions that are put forward to address poverty. Discourses of empowerment are often used by governments and service providers to encourage people to view themselves as active agents with the ability, if not the responsibility, to change their circumstances for the better. This reflects attention away from what governments themselves can do.

In an examination of ‘dimensions of family empowerment’ within the ‘troubled families’ discourse in England, Sue Bond-Taylor (2014) highlights the merging of empowerment talk with encouraging families to take responsibility for both their situation and the improvement of it. This occurs not only in the ‘troubled families’ discourse, but also in the practices of family workers, suggesting that families are empowered ‘only in so much as they are compliant and accept the normalising discourses of the services through engagement with their agendas for change’ (2014: 12). She argues that families’ participation in the programme ‘merely legitimates existing power relations under a veneer of empowerment discourses’ (2014: 8). 

In another similar research project examining how education services engaged with disadvantaged families, Fretwell et al (2018: 1056) highlight how a project exhorted parents to take greater responsibility for the educational performance of their children and to take measures to address it. Notions of empowerment were deployed, particularly when discussing employment:

This aspect of the programme was couched in a discourse of empowerment. The parameters of choice are firmly circumscribed, though. Parents can choose which activities to pursue, but they are not free to choose just anything; they must make the right choices. Empowerment is thus restricted to making choices within conditional limits and is itself a strategy of government; a sanctioned means for producing the kind of active citizen demanded by neoliberalism (2018: 1056).

One of the most powerful organisations in the world
is encouraging us to 'act together' to end poverty 

It is therefore interesting, perhaps even worrying, to note that one of the most powerful organisations in the world, made up of over 190 national governments, is encouraging us to ‘act together’ to ‘empower children, their families and communities to end poverty’, as if the responsibility for ending poverty lies primarily with ‘us’ as individuals or with the people experiencing poverty. Not only are impoverished groups expected to deal with and be ‘resilient’ about their own hardship, and the problems that come with it, but they’re now also expected to be the solution. Nelson Mandela argued powerfully that overcoming poverty was an act of justice, not a gesture of charity, and John Veit-Wilson (2000, 144) has noted that the responsibility for ending poverty ultimately rests with governments:

“Ensuring that all the members of society, residents in or citizens of a nation state, have enough money is a clear role which governments can adopt or reject, but they cannot deny they have the ultimate power over net income distribution.”

It is shameful that this is where we are at in 2019. Poverty continues to exist because of political and economic decisions, by powerful groups, regarding the allocation of resources, both nationally and globally. Impoverished communities lack political power because they lack economic power. Nobody feels the need to empower millionaires or politicians to take greater control of their lives. Perhaps if we increased the economic power of those living in poverty, we might find that they were more fully able to participate in society and there might be less need for ‘empowering’ projects and services. That would be the responsible thing to do.


Stephen is currently working with Kayleigh Garthwaite (University of Birmingham) and Ruth Patrick (University of York) on an online project exploring representations of people living in poverty in the UK. This blog also appears on their website www.whatstheproblem.org.uk



References:

Bond-Taylor, S. (2015) Dimensions of Family Empowerment in Work with So-Called ‘Troubled’ Families, Social Policy and Society, 14 (3): 371-384. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474746414000359

Fretwell, N., Osgood, J., O’Toole, G. and Tsouroufli, M. Governing through trust: Community‐based link workers and parental engagement in education, British Educational Research Journal, 44 (6): 1047-1063. DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3478

Veit-Wilson J (2000) Horses for Discourses: poverty, purpose and closure in minimum incomes standards policy. In: Gordon D and Townsend P (eds) Breadline Europe: The Measurement of Poverty. The Policy Press, Bristol, pp 141-164. https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/breadline-europe

The website for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty can be found here:
https://www.un.org/en/events/povertyday/

Images:

1. Courtesy of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs: https://www.un.org/development/desa/socialperspectiveondevelopment/international-day-for-the-eradication-of-poverty-homepage/2019-2.html
2. 'I like the campaign so far, Bob- I've already made my poverty history' by David Austin via University of Kent, British Cartoon Archive (Reference number: 86494, Published by: The Guardian, 02 July 2005, with thanks to Copyright holder: Janet Slee): https://archive.cartoons.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=86494

Research journey for hospice evaluating its innovative dementia care

Posted by Nicola Kendall, Namaste Lead, St Cuthbert’s Hospice and Dr Sonia Dalkin, Senior Lecturer in Public Health and Wellbeing and Lead of the Fuse Healthy Ageing Research Programme

To celebrate World Hospice and Palliative Care Day, we wanted to share part of St. Cuthbert’s Hospice’s research journey, in collaboration with Northumbria University. Specifically, we wanted to share some of the innovative activity that has been taking place in practice surrounding ‘Namaste Care’ and the evaluation of it with Fuse funding.

What is Namaste Care?

As dementia progresses, family carers describe a changing relationship and sense of loss, which can cause significant distress. Finding new ways of communicating is important to help the family carer and person with dementia to maintain a good quality of life. ‘The End-Of-Life Namaste Care Program for People with Dementia’ (Namaste Care) challenges the perception that people with advanced dementia are a ‘shell’, a ‘living death’; it provides a holistic approach based on the five senses. Early evidence suggest that it can improve communication and the relationships families and friends have with the person with dementia.

How has St. Cuthbert’s Hospice used it?

St Cuthbert’s Hospice in Durham has started to provide Namaste Care in the person’s own home, as opposed to its more traditional use in care homes. We train volunteers who are then matched with a person with dementia, in terms of personality, abilities and interests, for example. Volunteers visit the person, usually weekly for two hours and try to build a bond with the person living with dementia and the family.

Why did we want an evaluation?

Evaluating Namaste Care has proved challenging for many organisations. It is straightforward to measure reduced number of falls, less infections and reduced agitation, but teasing out the nuances of why the approach works requires more detailed study. Also, we were aware that our use of Namaste was somewhat novel, with only one other hospice in the UK implementing Namaste Care in people’s own homes. A team at Northumbria University, led by Dr Sonia Dalkin applied to the Fuse Pump Prime fund and was successful in attaining a small pot of funding to do some preliminary evaluation of our use of Namaste Care.

What did the evaluation find?

The preliminary research found that when used in people’s own homes Namaste Care has positive outcomes, such as increasing engagement and social interaction. Previously, social interaction had potentially been overlooked in the literature as an important outcome of Namaste Care. This was particularly important for carers who felt that their loved ones with dementia often didn’t have any interaction with others, beyond those living with them. The importance of matched volunteers was also highlighted, and special relationships were built between volunteers and the person with dementia. Family members would often use the time when the volunteer was present as respite as opposed to taking part in the session, and this highlighted interesting perspectives on their involvement in Namaste. The evidence suggested that those who care for a person with dementia at home provide continuous care and have little input from other services, therefore provision of two hours contact with a trained Namaste Care volunteer allowed them to concentrate on other things, knowing that the their loved one was in safe hands. This is in contrast to the usual delivery of Namaste Care in care homes, where family members may feel more able to get involved as they do not provide continuous care.

What next? 

Book for organisations and carers
interested in using the approach

• Delivery of Namaste Care in various settings
The ethos of the Namaste Care approach has proved transferable into various care settings at St Cuthbert’s hospice. We now run a Namaste inspired ‘Potting Shed’ Men’s Group and we deliver Namaste Care at the bedside in an acute hospital. We are also in the early stages of discussions about taking Namaste Care into prisons, either via staff training or training prisoner buddies. We are very proud to say that due to this and other work we have been shortlisted as finalists for ‘Best Team Award’ in the 10th National Dementia Care Awards 2019.

• Spreading the word
The Hospice has developed a training programme which is steadily gaining popularity. Nicola Kendall (Namaste Lead) has also written a book as a guide for other organisations and carers who are interested in using the approach: ‘Namaste Care for people living with advanced dementia - A practical guide for carers and professionals’. The book is now available from Jessica Kingsley Publishing.

• Research
Nicola has just attended the Namaste Care International Conference and continues to take Namaste Care from strength to strength at St Cuthbert’s Hospice. We are now planning to further evaluate our work, building on the findings of the preliminary evaluation and the guide book… Watch this space!

Policy, procedure, practice and plate-spinning - how to achieve a work-life balance

Posted by Susanne Nichol, Better Health at Work Award Programme Coordinator, Northern TUC

I regularly wish for an extra hour in the day, or a day in the week and I even more regularly feel like my frenetic movement from place to place whilst grabbing various coats, bags, children, laptops, papers and other extraneous articles is accompanied by the Benny Hill theme tune. And I know that I am absolutely not alone in this daily plate-spinning, multi-tasking blur that is reality for the vast majority of parents, carers – and well, everyone else!

However, I am fortunate to work for an employer that has a raft of measures in place to help me restore some balance. For example, having flexi-time means I can get a much needed hit of endorphins by going to the gym or out for a power-walk on my lunch hour, or before I have to sprint through the school gates lest my youngest child becomes an accidental boarder.

The Better Health At Work Award (BHAWA) is a regional flagship public health programme that is the result of a long-standing (currently celebrating a decade of making workplaces healthier), progressive partnership between 11 of the regional local authorities. This was evaluated in 2012 by Durham University, received a RAND Europe award in 2018 for its impact on health and wellbeing, and due to cross-organisational working between Local Authority specialist public health practitioners, academics and Fuse, was a featured element in the Prevention stream of the recently awarded regional NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) funding.

As BHAWA Coordinator I have contact with literally hundreds (currently over 400) workplaces across North East England and Cumbria, who cumulatively employ nearly a quarter of a million workers. One of the mandates of the BHAWA is that participants survey their staff biennially (at a minimum) and ask them what topics/ issues they’d like to see addressed or get more information/ support on and more often than not, work-life balance is ubiquitous in the top 5.

To me, this presents more of a challenge for both employer and employee than some of the other regular top 5 entries such as healthy eating, physical activity and mental health. Work-life balance encompasses all of those things and more, and whilst the application of all health topics is subjective, this even more so, as we all have our fulcrum in a different place – with a large measure of economics thrown in. Most of us would like to work less time for the same pay, but currently business demands and finances often make this unviable; conversely, whilst going to 3 days instead of 5 might give you perfect work-life balance, most of us wouldn’t be able to sustain a 40% reduction in salary.

Unfortunately, there is no quick fix or magic wand. However, there are multiple ways and means to mitigate work-life imbalance and to actively facilitate a redress in the right direction. The BHAWA takes a holistic approach to workplace health that emphasises making positive changes to all aspects of the workplace, from the infrastructure and logistics, to the pervading culture of staff and management engagement and interaction – and everything in between.

So, how do they do it and what does ‘good’ look like? Well, based on my six years of experience I can safely say that the best employers take a wholesale approach and embed health and wellbeing into the holy workplace triumvirate of policy, procedure and practice.

It all starts with having fit for purpose policies in place, specifically such as Flexible Working; one of our workplaces operates a best practice ‘Adult Working’ policy, which is uber-flexible, employee-led and based around a mutually trusting relationship, so if Costa is a conducive place for them to deliver their work in between school-runs or meetings, then so be it. More and more participants are also introducing ‘stuck not sick’ policies that allocate a bank of ‘reserve’ hours that people can use to deal with unexpected issues, such as an ill child or a flooded kitchen.

Then there are underpinning procedures like regular and supportive line management, meetings/1-2-1s that start with the question ‘How are you?’ which allows for an open dialogue and an easier conversation around any issues and hopefully a subsequent resolution. But, what is of paramount importance is the active implementation of policy and procedure. If an employer has the best policy in the world, yet nobody actually knows about it, then it’s not worth the paper it’s written on. Awareness, buy-in, good communication/training and a practical approach is imperative here.

Having managers who are properly supported to understand and apply the policy in practice is fundamental. They can do this in various ways; by advertising jobs as flexible from day one, supporting a range of flexible working options such as home-working, flexi-time, or compressed hours; reminding colleagues that they can (and should) take their lunch break/leave and can attend medical appointments or workplace campaigns or activities like on-site flu jabs, or a lunch-time yoga class, without it being detrimental to pay.

One thing is for certain - work-life balance is for life and not just for a week



Image:

1.  'plate spinning' by Clancy Mason via Flickr. Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0): https://www.flickr.com/photos/clancy123/1805082629
2. 'I'm working through my lunch hour. Work - life balance survey' by David Austin via University of Kent, British Cartoon Archive (Reference number: 84983, Published by: The Guardian, with thanks to Copyright holder: Janet Slee): https://archive.cartoons.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=84983

This is my truth, now tell me yours

National Poetry Day was launched in 1994 with the aim of inspiring people to enjoy, discover and share poems.

To mark this year's event on the theme of Truth, we issued a challenge to our followers on Twitter @fuse_online to write a poem about public health research.

Below are the literary masterpieces we received!



Wordsworth's Work-Balance

Mark Green, Senior Lecturer in Health Geography, University of Liverpool
@markalangreen

I wondered lonely as a cloud,
Over the summer where I found,
That working was not always for me,
Papers and grants failed to bring me glee.

So I chose to work a little less,
And I admit I must confess,
I’ll write a little less this year,
But be happier, and smarter, without that fear.



Changing the story

Emma Halliday, Senior Research Fellow, Lancaster University
@halliday_e

Illustration © Joe Decie 2018

We were ranked deprived,
left behind, always maligned;
that place - nobody moved to.
Public health called time
on booze and smoking islands.
Newspapers traded fears of
crime and wild west violence -
no one counted the human cost
or listened to the local voice.
When did reality get so lost?

So, the community took control
of a more powerful story -
it started with a conversation
about the decisions they’d make
to improve their place;
what they wanted to change
to reclaim this space.
Now, carnivals attract crowds,
lanterns of hope light the town;
residents fight back with pride.

These days, when they label us;
we don’t believe what they say.

A poem inspired by the Communities in Control study



Buckfast Free Zone

John Mooney, Senior Lecturer in Public Health, University of Sunderland
@StandupforPHlth

Once upon the Tyne, there was disorder, there was crime,
Cos’ everyone was pickled on the bevvy,
But that all came to grief,
When the Police and the Council Chief,
Introduced a top-up charging late night levy!

Now stags and hens all go tae Durham
Cos’ there’s nothing left here ‘fur them’
An all-night drinking parties have been banned!
They've installed the impact zone on their google map and phone
And the Toon’s the safest city in the land!



A poetic reflection on Public health alcohol policies in Newcastle, which have included the introduction of a late night levy and a cumulative impact zone for alcohol licences. 

Extract from my Stand-up comedy set: ‘Buckfast Free Zone’ performed at The Stand Comedy Club as part of Bright Club Newcastle. 

Actions bring risks

Posted by Llinos Mary Jehu, Research Associate with AskFuse, and Pat Watson, Research Fellow, Teesside University

We all know that. At a time when many of us are returning from holiday (or conference), we can reflect on the risks we took, like driving to the airport or eating sea-food.

So it’s no surprise that participatory action research brings risks. Co-researchers may be exposed to the risks that academics frequently anticipate, such as risks arising from lone-working or the emotional impact of data collection and reflection. There are also risks associated with research being carried out by people who have not been trained to the level of an academic, such as confidentiality, informed consent or interviewing techniques.

I’ve been involved in participatory action research at two universities, as well as within the NHS and local government. I’ve been through university ethics and NHS ethics, jumping through hoops as we’ve recruited and trained co-researchers, often re-submitting so we can finally start collecting and analysing data. I’ve also spent a fair amount of time getting to grips with systems for paying co-researchers expenses and honoraria. It’s amazing how complicated getting agreement to give out some supermarket vouchers can be, as both the ethical risks and financial risks are apparently enormous.

For all these projects, risk was removed, reduced or managed through our training and support systems. The training sessions allowed potential co-researchers to build their understanding of what the research involved, giving them an opportunity to opt-out should they choose. The sessions also built open, trusting relationships which, very occasionally, allowed us to identify and counsel people away from the project and signpost them to other opportunities. These relationships were vital during data collection periods. We may have drunk gallons of coffee and eaten far too much cake, but frequent, informal meetings with co-researchers ensured we kept a handle on what was happening in terms of ethics, finance and lone-working.

Consequently, I was a bit thrown when AskFuse - the responsive research and evaluation service run by Fuse - received a query from Pat Watson at Teesside University. Pat’s been commissioned by Sunderland City Council to carry out a piece of participatory action research involving pregnant mums in the design, development and implementation of a project looking at how expectant mums make decisions on how to feed their babies. The university Ethics committee had asked about insurance for co-researchers, and we had to admit that no one in the AskFuse team had any examples of formal arrangements. I also had a slight concern that, given the risk-averse nature of many large organisations, such a requirement might pose an insurmountable barrier for the research proposal. Undeterred, Pat went on the hunt, with a meandering email trail that eventually reached the University’s Deputy Director of Finance and the Liability Underwriter for the University’s insurers, UMAL. To my absolute surprise and delight, they confirmed ‘that the Teesside University Employer Liability/Public Liability/Public Indemnity covers apply to all University authorised research activity’. If Ethics approve participatory action research, then the co-researchers are insured.

It’s a huge relief that we now have a tick to put in the required box, and we have an example to cite should another researcher be asked the same question. I am really impressed with the approach of the insurance company: as their website states, they ‘never shy away from difficult risks’. However, managing risk in participatory action research requires far more than ticking boxes, regardless of how important these boxes may be. An equally important tool for identifying and managing risk is the strong relationships that successful co-research depends on. These relationships require time and investment, going to where people are and being prepared to share their space. They require trust and respect; possibly not asking people to show you a receipt before you pay their bus fare and not assuming that they’ll use their supermarket voucher to buy cider.

Research tools, data collection and analysis will be different, and often better, when the research process involves or is led by people who share the same standpoint, or even are, the research subjects. Hopefully universities will continue to recognise the benefits of participatory action research, recognise that the relationships it generates are a valuable asset and tool for managing risk, and not shy away from any ‘difficult risks’ it may present.


Image: 'victorian risk assessment cartoon' by John C Bullas BSc MSc PhD MCIHT MIAT via Flickr.  Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnbullas/7788230372

Why we need to celebrate our PostDocs

Annette Bramley, Director of N8 Research Partnership

It is no exaggeration to say that without our PostDocs, research in the UK would not be what it is today. PostDoc researchers go out into our businesses, charities and government as well as into lecturing positions in this country and internationally. However, given the increasing numbers of PostDocs in research, not matched by increasing numbers of permanent academic positions globally, there is a clear mismatch between hopes and expectations of a career in academia, and the reality. This can lead to frustration and pressure to deliver high impact outputs while at the same time having to build a life on the precarious foundations of short term contracts.

This week is National PostDoc Appreciation Week, a social campaign running from the 16th to 20th September, and an opportunity for research institutions and figures to thank those who are essential figures to their cause. With a reported four PostDocs out of 30 securing permanent academic posts with a significant research component, what does tweeting appreciation for a PostDoc prove?

Of course, saying “thank you” to our PostDocs will not solve the structural issues for this group in the sector but, I hope, it will go some way to ensuring that our colleagues across the N8 Research Partnership feel more valued and recognised for their hard work and dedication to research.

Public recognition, in particular, is important. A clear demonstration of our gratitude and appreciation, because Postdoctoral researchers make up a crucial part of the research and academic body in our universities. Nurturing and developing this talent is vital to generating new knowledge and innovation – for the N8, that means a focus on the Northern universities of our Partnership, as well as encouraging future generations of researchers in the Northern Powerhouse. We want to highlight the diversity within our PostDoc population and the vast range of contributions they make to ensuring that the N8 is a vibrant and successful research powerhouse in the North of England.

Professional researchers in their own right, these highly skilled individuals also turn their hands to mentoring, knowledge exchange, public engagement and training junior researchers and students.

Multidisciplinary research teams, like N8AgriFood, tend to have PostDoctoral researchers from a range of subject backgrounds working alongside each other. This is a fantastic career development opportunity for a PostDoc and leads to much better research outcomes for the Programme. The research benefits from bringing different perspectives and knowledge to bear on a problem; the PostDocs benefit from learning about other areas of research and the peer support that working in a larger team can bring.

One look at the #N8PostDocs hashtag on Twitter gives you some idea of the range of skills and projects that this diverse group undertakes; simply too many to list here.

But movements like this are just one aspect. This support needs to be just one stream leading to improving career structures and we have been looking at how we can tackle this for PostDocs within our universities. The ‘Prosper’ programme led by the University of Liverpool is looking at how to equip the first-time PostDoc with skills and experiences that will open up a wider range of potential careers. In time we intend for this to be rolled out across the N8.

Although more steps need to be made, we believe this is one great first step onto that ladder. But we need your help to reach out and show appreciation to the thousands of PostDocs who work in the N8 universities.

Here’s how to get involved:

• Download the Thank You poster and Thank You graphics from the N8 website: www.n8research.org.uk/celebrate-national-postdoc-appreciation-week-n8postdocs
• Fill out the poster with details of some outstanding work or contributions made by one of your team, and post a photo to Twitter 
• Or just simply post the Thank you graphic to Twitter, with a message of gratitude 
• Don’t forget to use the hashtag #N8PostDocs, and tag your postdocs!

Health inequalities in rural and coastal areas

Last November we, a team of Fuse academics, were successful in winning competitive funding from Public Health England (PHE) and given just four months to complete a rapid evidence review investigating health inequalities in older populations in coastal and rural areas. The team from Northumbria University and led by myself, consisted of Professor Katie Brittain a Social Gerontologist and Dr Sonia Dalkin Co-lead of the Fuse Healthy Ageing Research Programme (HARP). Read a case study about the review on the HARP pages of the Fuse Website.

The short timescale and vast quantity of literature made this a challenging project from the outset but the evidence was urgently needed to provide recommendations for taking an asset-based approach to reducing inequalities and promoting productive healthy ageing in rural and coastal areas. We worked closely, consulting and collaborating, with stakeholders including PHE Centre leads, Knowledge and Libraries Service, the Health Inequalities Team and Director of Public Health representatives from rural and coastal authorities. Key partners were approached from the start to recommend grey literature and case studies.

One hundred and eleven studies later the report is finally published and launched by our colleagues at Public Health England with this great blog showing how we age is strongly influenced by our environment, including where we live.

Katie Haighton, Associate Professor in Public Health, Northumbria University

---

How we age is strongly influenced by our environment, including where we live

Helen Brock - Programme Manager for Adults & Older Adults at Public Health England
Dr Rashmi Shukla - Director, Midlands and East of England at Public Health England

The impact of where we live

The long-term trend in life expectancy in the UK has been upwards; however, our experience of getting older varies across the nation. Some people have good physical and mental health well into old age, whereas others become frail or ill.

How we age is strongly influenced by our environment, including where we live. For both men and women, there is a 19-year difference in healthy life expectancy between those living in the most and the least deprived areas of the country.

Whether or not we live in an urban setting can also make a difference. While many of our country’s rural and coastal areas are picturesque, they can present significant challenges to protecting the health of the local population.

Our new evidence review builds on the existing evidence and suggests that older people living in rural or coastal areas may experience specific inequalities in their physical and mental health.

With almost 10 million of us living in rural areas, and older people making up a growing number of this group, it is important to understand why these health inequalities exist so that we can help to tackle them.

The evidence review aims to provide a synthesis of the evidence to support leaders in local areas in their efforts to reduce health inequalities.

Why are there public health inequalities in rural and coastal areas?

There are several drivers of health inequalities in rural and coastal areas.

One significant factor is social exclusion and isolation. Research suggests that loneliness can increase the risk of premature death by 30%.

Rural and coastal areas can face infrastructure challenges, with many villages and small towns lacking frequent and reliable public transport and high-speed internet. Having sufficient numbers of healthcare workers and carers in certain areas is an additional problem.

However, living in a rural or coastal area also has benefits. Rural places often have a strong sense of community, easier access to green space and lower crime rates than urban areas. ONS figures indicate that a higher proportion of people living in rural areas feel a sense of belonging and safety in their neighbourhood compared to people living in urban areas. Coastal environments may also provide benefits, through increased opportunities for physical activity as well as the restorative and stress-reducing impact of blue space (water).

What can we do to reduce these inequalities?

Local government and NHS partners, alongside the voluntary and community sectors, play a key role in taking action to improve the health and wellbeing of their populations.

PHE and NICE recognise that local interventions which bring communities together are some of the most valuable in addressing rural public health challenges.

Good social relationships and engagement in community life are necessary for good mental health and can help people become more resilient. By providing and maintaining community areas, green spaces and promoting public and community transport, councils can help to create a positive local environment and tackle social isolation.

Creating communities

Community activities such as lunch clubs can encourage older people to socialise and participate in community life. Bringing groups together in a village hall or other community space also provides the opportunity to reach older people with services, helping them to look after their wellbeing.

It is important to encourage social connections and contact for those in marginalised groups, who may be particularly affected by social exclusion. Involving older men who often find it harder than women to make friends later in life and may be reluctant to engage in community activities or social groups can also be a challenge.

Men’s Sheds is a programme that provides a place for older men in rural communities to participate in physical activities and projects such as gardening, woodwork and model-building. The initiative helps older men to meet, socialise and learn new skills, alleviating social isolation and creating a sense of purpose. With over 480 Sheds open in the UK, and more than 100 in development, it’s estimated that over 11,000 ‘Shedders’ are benefitting from Men’s Sheds across the country.

Promoting physical activity and making use of natural assets

There is potential for coastal and rural areas to use their natural assets to promote physical activity and reduce social isolation, for example, through volunteer-led walking groups or outdoor activities.

‘Stepping into Nature’ is a project led by Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty using Dorset’s natural and cultural landscape to provide activities and sensory-rich places for older people, including those with dementia and their carers. It seeks to increase physical and mental wellbeing, to reduce social isolation and loneliness, and to increase confidence and motivation for people to access the countryside.

Promoting and normalising physical activity as part of the experience of daily living for older people living in sheltered housing or residential care settings can result in further benefits.

In rural Norfolk, Active Norfolk – a partnership of organisations working to encourage people to participate in sport and physical activity – trialled Mobile Me, a physical activity programme for older people funded through Sport England.

For ten weeks, Mobile Me visited 65 sheltered housing and residential care homes to encourage them to get moving through games such as bowls and table tennis. The programme helped to reduce older peoples’ sedentary behaviour and fear of falling as well as increasing overall wellbeing.

Harnessing technology

Technology can be useful for providing care services to older people in the country’s most remote areas.

NHS Highland recently trialled video conferencing in remote care homes to allow doctors to speak to dementia patients in a familiar setting without the need for extensive travel.

The technology enabled care home residents to be assessed and reviewed more quickly and monitored more regularly. Video conferencing also helped care home staff to access specialist knowledge and advice more easily, helping them to feel more confident and actively involved in their residents’ care.

However, it’s important to find a balance between remote and direct face-to-face contact that many older people value.

Supporting local areas

With advances in healthcare and a greater understanding of how healthy lifestyles, supportive communities and environments can help us to live longer, enabling older people to lead fulfilling lives for as long as possible is more important than ever.

Recognising the health inequalities faced by people in different areas of the country, including rural and coastal places, is a crucial step to ensuring that all older people have the opportunities and care relevant to their needs, no matter where they live.

PHE’s evidence review seeks to share what is known about these issues, so that through Locality Plans, local Health and Wellbeing Strategies and other mechanisms, local authorities and the NHS locally are supported to prioritise work to address the health inequalities that exist within and between coastal and rural areas.

To find out more you can read the full report: An evidence summary of health inequalities in older populations in coastal and rural areas. You can also read our rural health report produced with the Local Government Association: Health and wellbeing in rural areas, and our recent health inequalities report: Place-based approaches for reducing health inequalities.


Reproduced with thanks to Public Health England and Exposure: 
https://publichealthengland.exposure.co/health-inequalities-in-rural-and-coastal-areas


Images:

• 2,3,4 courtesy of EXPOSURE: https://exposure.co/?source=story-footer-word-mark
• 5 courtesy of Sigismund von Dobschütz [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

School's out for summer

The blog will be back, refreshed and raring to go, on Friday 6th September 2019.

To be the first to hear about new posts in the autumn, follow @fuse_online.

Just because the blog is on holiday, doesn't mean you should be too. We always need your posts.

Please continue to send your 600-800 word posts to m.welford@tees.ac.uk and they will be published just as soon as the blog is back in the office.

Here's how to take part and why you should blog.

Image: Ross Halfin [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

By invitation-only, at a secret location, with no agenda - this is Sci Foo ‘unconferencing’

Amelia Lake, Associate Director of Fuse and Reader in Public Health Nutrition at Teesside University

I’ve been back home from Sci Foo for more than a week. I’m not missing the Californian sunshine as the North East weather has actually been rather seasonal, but I am missing two things; the incredible Google micro-kitchens and the people I had the good fortune to meet.

Before the email arrived - which incidentally, I almost deleted thinking it was another spam invitation to a fictional conference in some far flung location - I hadn’t heard of Sci Foo. Thankfully, I forwarded it to our University Director of Corporate Communications and Public Relations, who was suitably excited.

That was April.  Fast forward to July and I’m on a 10-hour flight to San Francisco (feeling very relieved that I don’t have to entertain the kids on such a long haul). At this point I’m still not that clear what an ‘unconference’ conference is.

When I arrive, I have to download Uber to my phone (not a necessity when living in rural north Yorkshire) and I find my destination with only jet lag to contend with - a theme common throughout my three days at Sci Foo. To be fair, I had jet lag before getting here courtesy of a three-year-old.

On Friday evening, we are bused to the top secret Google X complex and it starts – as all good things should – with food. I can’t remember the last time I went to an event where I didn’t know anyone at all other than some vaguely recognisable faces from the twittersphere.
But with food came conversation. 

Participant-driven 'rugby scrum' 

At around 8pm the conference started (bearing in mind that I had been awake since 3am) and the message was clear. Be inclusive, be kind, be curious and talk to people from as many diverse fields as possible. That was very easy, as I soon discovered, most people were doing or studying things I hadn’t heard of, or had zero comprehension. It was awe inspiring.

I soon discovered that an ‘unconference’ is completely participant-driven and from a distance this looked a bit like a rugby scrum.                                 

       But with encouragement from my new found food friends I joined the pack and put down a session on ‘silencing science’ - discussing whether our role as scientists is to be neutral or advocates. I met Prof Shaun Hendy and Dr Siouxsie Wiles both phenomenal science communicators from the University of Auckland, New Zealand and we devised a session for Saturday morning based on the range of experiences Shaun had collated in his book ‘Silencing Science’.

The rest of the day was incredible – from sessions on trust in science, to the future of scientific publishing – and did I say that the food was great?! Sleep deprivation is nothing when you have access to kettles with higher and lower temperatures depending on the type of tea you select.

On Sunday morning it was my turn to give a ‘lightening talk’ on our Fuse energy drink research, alongside a handful of other presenters. Speakers one and two were incredible with amazing graphics, audio and visuals. My more low-tech approach highlighted the powerful words of our young respondents, illustrating what the consumption of energy drinks means to them.

Sci Foo was only three days but it felt longer, in a good way. There were many highlights, including holding a Woolly Mammoth’s actual tooth during breakfast [add photo], discussing galaxy formations with cosmologist and Prof of Physics Risa Wechsler and attending a session on ‘fully automated luxury feminism’!

There can’t be many conferences – no make that occasions in life - where you can share the same room with the most influential skateboarder in history, Rodney Mullen and a Nobel Laureate.

I hit a conference high attending Sci Foo. It was incredible and lots of people worked very hard to make it such a brilliant event. Particularly Cat Allman, the team from O’Reilly Media, Digital Science, Nature Publishing Group and Google Inc.

My take home message is: if you ever get invited to one of these ‘Foo’ events, say yes - you won’t regret it.


Images:
2: Courtesy of Alex Cagan: https://twitter.com/ATJCagan/status/1149897137640988672
3: Amelia Lake with Prof Shaun Hendy
4: Quotes from the young people involved in Fuse energy drinks research
5: Amelia Lake with a Woolly Mammoth tooth 

Struggling to see a way through your data? Try a different lens

Posted by Peter van der Graaf, AskFuse Research Manager / Fuse Knowledge Exchange Broker, Teesside University

“Having trouble analysing your qualitative data? Are you lost in the sheer amount of data you have collected and don’t know where to start?”

This was the strapline of a course at Kings College London last week, called ‘Ethnography Language and Communication’ and a big reason why I attend the summer school. Within my NIHR Fellowship research, I have collected big piles of observation notes, interview transcripts and meeting minutes and struggled to make sense of them. So did the course deliver?

Over five days, we were presented with a range of analytical tools borrowed from linguistics and applied to qualitative data (interview transcripts and video recording of job interviews and classrooms) with an ethnographic lens. In essence, this means trying to understand how meaning is constructed in social interactions by studying text and recordings generated from these interactions in fine detail. First from the perspective of the specific situation in which these texts were constructed, but with an explicit aim to make valid statements about the wider social structures in which these interactions are embedded.

The course leaders* have even come up with a name for this academic discipline: ‘linguistic ethnography’. Linguistic ethnographers acknowledge that texts are representations of social actions and, therefore, that to understand these texts you need to closely investigate the social interactions that produced them.

However, they also explore how these interactions are embedded in institutional contexts and are closely linked to social interactions elsewhere, both in time and location, adding a historic and place perspective. Sociological concepts of power, social class, inequality and identity feature eventually in these analyses but are not presumed and not used in the first instance. The specific context of the social interaction is initially key for understanding what is going on.

The course attracted speakers and participants from across the globe, including the UK, US, China, Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Turkey, Israel and many more. This international gathering aligned nicely with the aims of the course: being highly interactional, working across different contexts with different types of data and approaches coming together to co-create a better understanding of their data.

Although we discussed many theoretical concepts, the course was also practical and gave us the opportunity to experiment with a range of analytical tools (or what Ben Rampton preferred to call ‘sensitizing concepts’): from micro-analysis (a form of Goffmanian conversation analysis: applying a dramaturgical lens (life is a stage!) to data interpretation) to discourse genres featuring The X Factor, multi-modal analysis (looking simultaneously at different modes of communication such as language, gaze and gestures), semiotic landscapes (e.g. how shop signs in neighbourhoods communicate change) and trans-contextual analysis (how text moves and changes across contexts and interactions). If you are confused by the plethora of terms and concepts, you feel exactly as we did during the course!

However, this was also the point: gaining experience of applying a range of tools that overlap or sometimes contrast with our data to find new insights that we wouldn’t otherwise have discovered. If it is helpful, use it; if not, try another tool or a combination of tools. In this sense, the course was very pragmatic. And this also applies to the role of being a linguistic ethnographer. You do not need to do X, Y and Z as a minimum, with a potential dusting of C to call yourself a linguistic ethnographer. Instead, you prescribe to a set of principles about the nature (social interaction), context (multi situational) and structure (institutional framing) of texts and recordings, that help you to choose from and apply an analytical toolkit.

Applying a different lens

Did it help me make more sense of the qualitative data I collected for my research project? No (at least not yet), but the course provided me with a starting point for analysis. It also helped me realise that trying to incorporate and do justice to all the data that I collected is simply not possible. Instead, applying a linguistic ethnographic lens to my data will help me to identify instances of text that signify social interactions that are critical for my understanding. This will ultimately help me to build an argumentative structure for my papers.

I will still need to go through all my qualitative data in detail but have a better sense of how to navigate this now.


*Ben Rampton, Kings College London; Adam Lefstein, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; Jan Blommaert, University of Tilburg; Jeff Bezemer, University College London; and Julia Snell, University of Leeds

Managing difficult conversations at work; ambulances, snow ploughs and submarines

Posted by Peter van der Graaf, AskFuse Research Manager / Fuse Knowledge Exchange Broker, Teesside University

We all face difficult conversations in our work; whether as a PhD student trying to tell a supervisor that they are not very helpful, or as post-doctoral researcher, explaining to your line manager that you really don’t want to take up any more teaching responsibilities. Or even as a practitioner having to point out to an esteemed researcher that their pet project is not relevant at all for your practice.

Like most people, I try to avoid these conversations as much as I can and prefer ‘flight’ rather than ‘fight’. Best to give in and avoid confrontation than have an uncomfortable row that will keep me up at night.

But could confrontations also be useful, and if so, how could you manage them in a way that they benefit you? This was the aim of the Courageous and Compelling Conversations Masterclass I attended in London as part of the NIHR Leadership Development Programme. Before starting the masterclass, I had to complete a self-assessment of my preferred response mode to confrontational conversations, which neatly confirmed my ‘flight’ status and gave me new labels for it: 60% Give In; 20% Run Away; and 20% Compromise.

What the masterclass taught me was that confrontation is not about preparing well for the other’s potential responses; for instance, by endlessly scripting clever and rational dialogues to counteract every accusation that a person could throw at me.

Instead, the course focused on better understanding my own response style in relation to other people. My light bulb moment was the realisation that you can’t control the response of the person you are talking to, but that you can manage yourself on how to respond, and take time to formulate this response during the conversation. Therefore, my nights (more preferably work hours) would be better spent understanding what I want to get out of the confrontation (outcome) and plan my conversations accordingly, instead of worrying what the other person will say and need.

During the course we were split into three groups, according to our preferred Motivation Value Style, with each group given its own emblem in the shape of a transport vehicle. Apparently, I am an ambulance, which is the symbol of the ‘carer’ group, who are motivated by the protection, growth and welfare of others. We prefer to ensure that everyone is happy, relationships are good and don’t want to be a burden to others. As an ambulance, I am responsive to other people’s needs and therefore go into conversations where I am needed (with blue lights if possible!).

In contrast, the ‘driver’ group (snow ploughs) - motivated by task accomplishment and achieving results - prefer to exercise persuasion. The third group, technicians (submarines) are different again in that they are motivated by meaningful order and thinking things through; they want to be practical and fair.

Although, these three styles feel quite stereotypical, I was surprised to see how much each of us on the course was conforming to these styles when explaining their behaviour in difficult conversations. We discovered that we incorporate elements of each style into our conversations but have a natural gravitas to a particular style. Realising your preferred style and working out the preferred style of your conversation partner, proved really helpful.

For example, someone who prefers to be a submarine (technician style), does not respond well to pressure to make an on the spot decision. Forcing them to agree to a solution at the end of the conversation will only escalate the confrontation. Instead, agreeing to give them time to mull the problem over and come back with a response later, will likely result in a much more favourable response and implementable solution.

Under stress, people tend to respond in either of two ways: they become more extreme in their preferred style (dig their heels in) or switch to a different style. What we were encouraged to do during the training course, was to play with different styles and practice switching during a confrontational conversation to a different style that would be more attuned to the person we were speaking to. In that sense, we are better able to manage ourselves and the responses we get from the person we are confronting.

A key part of this switching of styles was being assertive; not shouting over the other or ignoring what they say, but quite the opposite: taking more time to listen to the other and trying to understand what they say and where they are coming from. Are we really hearing what the other person is telling us or are we too busy trying to contain our emotions and constructing our next argument in our heads? Armed with this understanding, you will be better prepared to say what you think and feel, and, most importantly, what you want to happen.

As an ambulance, I need to be patient with submarines and focus on the practical, while being more competitive and assertive with snow ploughs, or team up with submarines to create new opportunities in joint conversation with snow ploughs.


Image:

1. 'Arguments' by Jeff Eaton via Flickr. Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0): https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffeaton/7436909698

Universal Credit and survival sex – a hostile policy in practice?

Post by Laura Seebohm, Changing Lives, Executive Director – Innovation and Policy

I recently provided evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee on the relationship between Universal Credit and survival sex. By both shining a light on this important issue, and promoting the terminology of ‘survival sex’ – sex work conducted to meet basic needs in the absence of other options - the Committee had a significant opportunity shape the public policy debate on this issue.

 

Changing Lives first coined the term ‘survival sex’ when we supported women who had experience of selling sex to carry out peer research, interviewing 86 of their peers across Tyne and Wear back in 2007. The findings highlighted the overwhelming correlation between selling sex and poverty, deprivation and social exclusion. Women disclosed they were turning to survival sex to meet their immediate needs; to pay for food, for a place to stay, laundry, to fund an addiction, and often to support their children. We have repeated this methodology in other towns and cities over the past 12 years and the findings have not changed.

What has changed quite significantly is the number of women faced with destitution. They see selling sex as their ‘only option’ when faced with unprecedented levels of financial hardship. They tell us time and time again that this relates to welfare reform - specifically the roll out of Universal Credit.

Changing Lives has five specialist services for people involved in survival sex, sexual exploitation and sex work across the North and Midlands, supporting nearly 700 people at any one time. Most of the women we work with come to us with a range of vulnerabilities, alongside survival sex. Many report trauma and abuse as children continuing into adulthood, poor mental health and addiction, poor education and employment opportunities, homelessness and experience of the criminal justice system. Most also present as courageous, amazingly resilient and articulate, with an array of talents and strengths that see them through.

However, they are severely disadvantaged by Universal Credit. This is a system which appears to be designed to be alienating and impenetrable for people who need it most – those with little money, living on tight budgets and with limited financial capability. It is exacerbated for those who have low levels of ‘social capital’; they do not have people in their lives who they can turn to for support when times are hard.

Key issues our services consistently report are:

• People frequently have no formal ID, no bank account, and are not digitally literate and have no access to the internet – making it impossible to claim Universal Credit.
• The timescale for processing a new claim is commonly five to six weeks - but delays can take up to 11 weeks. 
• It is possible to access Advance Payments while a claim is processed. But the rates of repayment are excessive and non-negotiable, leaving people in extreme financial hardship. 

We know of people who have been given £250 as an advance payment with no indication of how long this should last (six weeks). If this does not cover rent (which it often doesn’t) homelessness is inevitable. The difference with Universal Credit is that any deductions are taken from the one ‘universal’ benefit, so there is no capacity to protect rent, for example (as the old system would have provided with a separate housing benefit entitlement).

Survival sex can feel like the only avenue available. And when benefits are reinstated with deductions of £150 including the advance payment, people are left with such small amounts to live on that it is impossible to sustain their health or welfare at even the most basic level. It is of no surprise that people sell sex in order to survive, especially those with children to care for.

We see women doing this for the first time; we see women returning to sex work years after they have left; we see up to a third of women we support choosing not to apply for Universal Credit at all. They all say selling sex is their ‘last resort’. As Heidi Allen MP, Vice Chair of the Committee said, “if the system is not a safety net, you run out of options”.

There was a concern raised by a number of women giving evidence to the Committee that dehumanising processes and subsequent levels of poverty we see resulting from welfare policy have been deliberately built into the administration of Universal Credit. There is a suggestion that there has been a deliberate act of making people poorer by using the welfare system as a hostile tool. The widespread shared experience of all of us giving evidence would certainly suggest that this is the case.

Work and Pensions Committee: Universal Credit and Survival Sex - oral evidence

Since the Committee a number of us who gave evidence were invited to meet with Secretary of State Amber Rudd and Will Quince MP at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). They are adamant that there is no policy or directive ‘from the top’ to deliberately create a system that is impenetrable for people in need. They also accepted that the evidence provided by women we support is not ‘anecdote’ (as previously claimed in a DWP letter to Frank Field and his Committee) but genuine cause for concern.

The following day Will Quince MP, Minister for Family Support, Housing and Child Maintenance made some conciliatory steps to further demonstrate this point. He apologised for the initial response by DWP, and concluded that ‘We need to make sure people’s lived experience matches our policy intent’.

It is the responsibility of Changing Lives, and the many other organisations who gave evidence, to work with the Committee to hold the government to account on this matter. We need to make sure we never tolerate a system where survival sex is ever anyone’s last resort.


About Changing Lives

Changing Lives helps over 17,000 people change their lives for the better each year. We are a national charity dedicated to supporting people with the most complex needs to make meaningful and lasting improvements to their lives. We have around 100 projects in England and over 500 dedicated staff, supporting people experiencing homelessness, domestic violence, addictions, long-term unemployment and more.

Is there life beyond the PhD?

Posted by Priyanka Vasantavada, PhD researcher, School of Health and Social Care, Teesside University

Living my Jane Austen fantasy

Don’t ask me if there is? It’s not afterlife. Or is it? But it is a question every PhD student has wondered about during the ups and downs of their PhD journey (unless you have a permanent job and are doing a part-time PhD). So how do you deal with it when this sort of ‘limited existentialism’ strikes? What do you say when the world around you repeatedly asks, “what next?”.

I just curl up in my bed and binge watch screen adaptations of Jane Austen novels or any good costume drama, science fiction series or even fantasy; for what can be better than some good old escapism? Does it answer the question? No! Does it help me forget it? Yes!

So last summer when I received an email from the Graduate Research School of my university regarding a Life Beyond PhD conference being held at Cumberland Lodge, Windsor; I jumped with excitement. I knew I wanted to go for it the moment I saw the pictures of the Lodge. Not unlike Pride and Prejudice protagonist Ms Elizabeth Bennet who started seeing Mr Darcy in a favourable light after visiting Pemberley. Don’t get me, or Ms Bennet, wrong for we both saw the merit in the conference and Mr Darcy respectively, but their residences certainly recommended them.

Cumberland Lodge, Winsor Great Park

Here was an opportunity blending my fantasy and reality - a four night residential conference with hospitality in the actual former residence of a real-life princess…. hello Disney! What more could I have asked for? (*cough*… Cumberland Lodge Scholarship …*cough*). The conference programme was designed to highlight the value of PhDs (both within academia and industry) and it also promised opportunities for sharing research and career aspirations, exploring collaborative and interdisciplinary ways of working, and presenting to a diverse, non-expert audience.


My supervisor considered it to be a good opportunity for me; owing to the nature of my PhD which marginally borders on public engagement in research and public health. She was kind enough to recommend me to the school for sponsorship and I daydreamed my way to the Windsor great park on a balmy summer afternoon.

Conference delegates

All the delegates were welcomed and given a tour of the historical building by the education officer of the lodge. The tour was followed by a session on research culture in the UK topped with a drinks reception. A delicious dinner was served shortly thereafter, and the delegates had fun in the group games session which included a pop quiz, table tennis, and snooker. I don’t think I ever made so many friends in such a short period of time!

The second day centred around PhD researcher development with sessions on self-leadership, speaking and writing techniques, and wellbeing and mental health. Unsurprisingly the session on mental wellbeing: research-based thoughts, issues and toolkit commanded most delegate participation, as the mental health of a PhD researcher is almost always never considered in academia. The conference drew delegates from disciplines across science, art and literature and yet everyone identified with mental health issues in PhD life!

Me and fellow Teesside University
PhD researcher David Oluwadere

On the third day, delegates were divided into four groups and were given the opportunity to present their project to their group mates who were of a different subject background. Every delegate received feedback from their peers on their overall presentation skills and comprehension of content. My colleague David Oluwadere, studying Environmental Sciences at Teesside University, presented on agronomic biofortification technique as a means of increasing zinc concentration and bioavailability in wheat using seaweed. I presented my project on the public perception of community water fluoridation in the UK. The presentations were followed by sessions by PhD graduates on their life after PhD and on public engagement in research.

The fourth day focussed on interdisciplinary research and working in designated groups we were challenged to address a problem by developing interdisciplinary research proposals within the day. These proposals were pitched to a panel of judges in order to seek funding. This was an exercise in developing our collaborative skills and emphasised the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to problem solving. It also demonstrated how a problem is viewed differently by people from various disciplines. Humble brag, but the team I was part of, won the proposal contest and were gifted a box of chocolates.

Winners of the interdisciplinary research proposal contest 

The conference closed with a session on, “Why is a PhD worth it?”. In addition to the conference presentations which were highly informative and relevant, I will always remember the experience for living in a historic aristocratic building, ‘taking a turn’ about the Windsor great park (channelling heroines of Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte), the late night banter with friends in the sitting rooms of the lodge, playing games and striking the keys of an out of tune piano in the basement in evenings, and being served dinner in a fashion reminiscent of Downton Abbey.

If you feel that this is something for you (fantasising is optional), visit the the Cumberland Lodge website to find out more.

Getting a job after PhD is subject to availability and visa status, but life beyond PhD is open to endless possibilities. So, I believe that instead of speculating about the future, we should try to live in the moment and savour the #phdlife while it lasts!

Images:

• 1: Hugh Thomson (1860-1920) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomson-PP14.jpg
• 2 & 4: courtesy of Priyanka Vasantavada
• 3 & 5: courtesy of @CumberlandLodge