Free course in “Mad People’s History and Identity” at Queen Margaret University

This may be of interest to some DRF members:

Are you looking to start something new in 2016? Thinking about going back to study? Then maybe this is for you!

“Mad People’s History and Identity” is a FREE 5 week (6 weeks including induction) module, open to anyone with experience of mental health issues.

It’s a fun, interactive course, full of discussion and very much about valuing each other as “experts by experience”.  We’ll look at topics such as “What is Madness?”, “History of Treatments and Confinement”, “Madness and Gender” and “Activism” and begin to look at mental health and madness as a social, human rights and equalities issue.  It will run 10.15 – 3.15 on a Wednesday, starting on 6 April 2016.

You’ll also get a QMU student card and full access to all the university facilities such as library, student services and of course a student discount in cinemas/shops etc!

You’ll need basic computer skills and access to a computer to get the most of out of this course.  If this is a problem, let us know. A group of us have just started developing and running a community course that does not require any computer skills and runs in community spaces not the uni, so if this would be more up your street just let us know.

We’d love you to join us for the 2016 course, if you have any questions please contact myself or Elaine Ballantyne at QMU and to apply please email Elaine for an application form.

Please see the flyer: http://lancaster.us9.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=34fd0fee62dd47353b91d4ab4&id=649df48c5e&e=86fb3213c2 for all the info you need on how to apply and look forward to you joining our ever growing community of students and ex students!

CFP: free workshop, ‘Space and Place’ – Sheffield Hallam University, 11th May

A workshop on ‘space and place’ which may be of interest to Disability Research Forum Members. The workshop will take place at Collegiate Campus, Sheffield Hallam University – more information on the location here.

Access info: The Moot Suite where the workshop will take place is inside the main entrance of The Heart of the Campus (HOTC) building. The access into HOTC at that location is level, wide and well-lit (perhaps gently ramped in parts). The Moot Suite is about 50m from the main entrance, arranged in the style of a courtroom but the seats themselves are fairly conventional. The HOTC building has several blue badge specific parking spaces right next to the main entrances. For further access information and/or to arrange a parking permit, please contact Jonathan Dean (j.dean@shu.ac.uk)

 The 11th May 2016 SHU Space & Place Group workshop at Collegiate Campus

The Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) Space & Place Group are planning an ‘awayday’ workshop at the end of Semester 2. All are very welcome. The workshop will take place in the Moot Suite (a mock courtroom) in the morning and then venture out into the campus during the afternoon. The outline programme will comprise:

 10-12.00 Selected papers (15 mins) on investigating space and place (*see Call For Papers below)

 12.00-12.45 Open discussion / summing up and tasking for afternoon session.

 12.45 -1.30 Lunch

 1.30-3.30 Engaging in groups or individually in various roaming interrogations of the Heart of the Campus, using various methods. This will be a nice follow on to the SHU SPG’s 2013 assay of the old Southbourne building. Followed by…

 3.30-4.30  A reporting back session and exploring potential for collaborative outputs (with a likely trip to the pub thereafter).

 *CALL FOR PAPERS

 Does your discipline engage with matters of space and place? Most do, albeit at a variety of scales, in myriad ways and for many divergent reasons. The interdisciplinary SHU Space and Place Group was set up in 2012 by Jenny Blain (Sociology), Luke Bennett (Natural & Built Environment), Cathy Burnett and Carol Taylor (Education) to explore the common ground between our various interests in space and place. It meets 3-4 times a year to discuss conceptual, methodological and practical issues around the question “how do we make sense of the spaces and places within which stuff of interest to us happens?”. In his 2012 book, The Memory of Place, Dylan Trigg suggests that an interdisciplinary ‘place studies’ has emerged in recent years at the intersection of philosophy, geography, architecture, urban design and environmental studies. But in our experience the ambit of place studies is even wider, for our group also includes SHU place-researching academics from education, management studies, law, sociology, psychology, real estate and performance studies. We are always keen to welcome new voices into our conversation and we’ve organised our (informal) ‘conference’ on 11 May 2016 as a way of widening participation in the Group’s endeavours. It will also showcase what we’ve already achieved through our group’s open and creative collaborations. So, if you’d like to come along and speak for 15 minutes on what space and place research means to you and/or how you have investigated space and place in your research, please submit a title and an up to 150 word abstract to Luke Bennett (l.e.bennett@shu.ac.uk) by 29 February 2016. A committee of SHU SPG members will then select speakers by mid March. In the afternoon session we intend to explore SHU’s new Heart of the Campus area, and use a variety of research methods to do so. The group attempted something similar at the former Southbourne building in 2013, and one of the papers arising from that – Jon Dean’s study of the assignment management zone and its sociality – has recently been published in the journal Qualitative Inquiry http://qix.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/11/19/1077800415605050.

 All are very welcome – please forward to anyone interested in participating. We will circulate a full programme once finalised and give directions on how to book a place. The event will be free to attend.

PhD Funding: Towards adulthood: exploring transitions to adulthood for young people with learning disabilities in a devolving Greater Manchester

From: http://www2.mmu.ac.uk/research/research-study/scholarships/2016/towards-adulthood-exploring-transitions-to-adulthood-for-young-people-with-learning-disabilities-in-a-devolving-greater-manchester.php

Project summary

The interdisciplinary project will explore ‘transitions’ of young people with learning disabilities to adulthood in Greater Manchester.  The participatory study will build on previous research (Big Society? Disabled people with learning disabilities and civil society, ESRC funded) and will enhance pathways to impact for the impact narrative allied to this research.

Project aims and objectives

The Children and Family Act (2014), which followed the publication of Support and Aspiration: a new approach to special educational needs and disability (DfE, 2011), was intended to improve transitions for young people with learning disabilities into adulthood.  The introduction of Education, Health and Care Plans, that document children and young people’s support needs from birth to 25, were specifically designed to end the so-called ‘cliff edge’ that had been identified for young people with learning disabilities who found themselves transitioning to adulthood often without adequate services and support.

The transition to Education, Health and Care plans in Greater Manchester is still on going and the impact of the changes as a result of the Children and Families Act are unknown.  However, research suggests (Hatton, 2015) that many young people who have been identified with Special Educational Needs are still lost in transition to adult services.  Thresholds for accessing adult social care, following the Care Act, 2014, are rising and the Devolution Manchester agenda will also result in a huge shake up in the way that education, health and social care are delivered.  This timely research will explore the following objectives:

1. To explore the social construction of ‘learning disability’ and ‘adulthood’ in the lives of young people in transition;
2. To explore the policy and cultural contexts of transitions for young people with learning disabilities in the context of devolution Greater Manchester;
3. To understand the nature of the support that young people with learning disabilities receive in transition;
4. To explore examples of ‘good practice’ in transition in Greater Manchester;
5. To develop an evidence base to inform policy and practice in Greater Manchester, regionally and nationally, in relation to transition for young people with learning disabilities.

The objectives will be met through the following research phases

1. Review of literature on ‘learning disability’, ‘adulthood’,  ‘transition’ and ‘devolution’ Greater Manchester (Aim 1 & 2)
2. To work in coproduction with young people with learning disabilities, their families and allies to understand their experiences of transition. (We envisage that research will draw on range of multi-media methods to work collaboratively with a diverse range of young people) (Aims 3 & 4)
3. Analysis (Aim 5)
4. Dissemination & impact generation activities, including policy focused summary cards and briefing papers. (Aim 5)

The proposed project builds on existing research within The Research Centre for Social Change: Community Wellbeing and offers pathways to impact from the Research Centre.

This application has the support of Manchester People’s First, an advocacy organization led by people with learning disabilities in Manchester and Breakthrough UK, a disabled people led organization in Manchester.

The research team will work with the student to co-author high quality journal articles (REF 2020).

The research team is led by Katherine Runswick-Cole, an experienced disability researcher, supported by Sue Caton, an established researcher and PhD supervisor with a PhD in transitions for young people with learning disabilities (completed 2003), and Leanne Rimmer, a new member of the Psychology staff at MMU who has an interest in housing and wellbeing.   The supervisory team exceeds the requirements for completions at MMU.

Specific requirements of the project

Qualifications

• Good honours degree (or equivalent) in social care, psychology, sociology, disability studies, education or related discipline
• Masters level qualification or equivalent professional experience

Skills

• Proven record of strong organisational skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Good team working skills
• Good interpersonal skills and strong negotiating skills
• Good IT skills
• Evidence of ability to work collaboratively and to work on own initiative
• High level of motivation

Knowledge & Experience

• Genuine desire to pursue PhD study and to develop their skills as a researcher
• Knowledge and understanding of the challenges facing young people with learning disabilities in transition to adulthood
• Knowledge and understanding of qualitative and quantitative research methods
• Experience of paid and/or voluntary work alongside people with learning disabilities
• Developing knowledge and understanding of disability studies
• Developing knowledge and understanding of the Devolution Greater Manchester context
• Developing knowledge and understanding of participatory and multi-media research methods
• Developing knowledge of public engagement activities and pathways to impact

Student eligibility

UK, EU and international students

Supervisory Team

Informal enquiries can be made to:

Dr Katherine Runswick-Cole, Director of Studies
Tel: +44 (0)161 247 2906
Email: k.runswick-cole@mmu.ac.uk

Dr Sue Caton
Email: s.caton@mmu.ac.uk

Seminar: Cross disciplinary contributions to understanding research and practice dynamics with children: Building the conversation across the human and social sciences

Child Health Research Network: Focusing on the health, education and social needs of children and young people

For further details contact: Jane Mann, Jane.Mann@manchester.ac.uk

Cross disciplinary contributions to understanding research and practice dynamics with children: Building the conversation across the human and social sciences

 Thursday 11^th February 2016, 9.15am – 4.00pm

Seminar room G306b, Jean McFarlane Building, Oxford Road, University of Manchester

 9.15-  9.45       Registration and coffee

9.45 – 10.00     Introduction (Erica Burman, UoM)

Session 1:        Participation: theory, method, practice – chair: chair: Sue Kirk (UoM)

10.00-10.20     Karin Lesnik-Oberstein (Reading University) ‘Childhood and Transgender: Bodies, Sexualities’

10.20-10.40     Janet McDonagh (UoM) ‘“Nothing about us without us”. Involving young people in service development and research’

10.40-11.00     Anat Greenstein (MMU) “Creative utopias as a form of critical exploration with young disabled people”

11.00-11.20     Discussion

11.20-11.45     coffee break

Session 2:       Reading and writing records of childhood: Peter Callery (UoM)

11.45-12.05     Johanna Motzkau (Open University) ‘Child Protection as a Listening Project: exploring the experience of hearing and enacting evidence in multi-agency practice’

12.05-12.25     Ana Cardon-Coyne (UoM) ‘A problem of categories?  Children and juveniles as workers, soldiers and heroes during the First World War’

12.20-12.40     Daniela Caselli (UoM) ‘The Children’s Society’s Archive’

12.40-1.00       Discussion

Lunch: 1.05-2pm

Session 3 Part 1: Methodological innovations: chair Erica Burman (UoM)

2.00-2.20:        Gill Craig (City University) “Our normal thing is to eat”: what are women trying to achieve when feeding disabled children and what can we learn from their narratives about constructions of the child?

2.20-2.35         Naz Nizami (PhD researcher, UoM) ‘Analysing the Crown Prosecution Service pre-trial therapy guidance’

2.35-2.55         Discussion

Part 2: Voices, agents and/in history: chair Daniela Caselli (UoM)

3.00-3.15:        Beth Parker (DECP trainee, UoM) ‘Exploring events in educational psychology practice using an ANT lens’)

3.15-3.30         Aaron Moore (UoM) ‘The birth of political consciousness during WWII: education, childhood, and youth in Imperial Japan’)

3.30-4.00         Discussion

4.00                 END

Seminar: Austerity and informal structures of ‘care’, London, Sat 6th Feb

From: http://dpac.uk.net/2016/01/austerityinformal-structures-of-care-feb-6th/

Event Description

A seminar with speakers Ellen Clifford, member of the National Steering Group of Disabled People Against Cuts; Nadja Millner-Larsen, lecturer in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths University; and artist Park McArthur on the current climate of austerity in the UK and the informal structures of care which grow in the absence of national infrastructures.

The event will start at 7pm and latecomers’ tickets may be reallocated.

BSL interpretation for events at Chisenhale Gallery is available on request; please contact Tommie Introna tommie.introna@chisenhale.org.uk for further information. Please be advised that two weeks notice is required in order to confirm an interpreter. 

WHEN

Saturday, 6 February 2016 from 14:00 to 16:00 (GMT) – Add to Calendar

WHERE

Chisenhale Gallery – 64 Chisenhale Road London E3 GB – View Map

Free event: tickets HERE

Chisenhale Gallery

Organiser of Seminar with speakers Ellen Clifford, Nadja Millner-Larsen and Park McArthur

Chisenhale Gallery supports the production and presentation of new forms of artistic activity and engages diverse audiences, both local and international. This expands on our award winning, 30-year history as one of London’s most innovative forums for contemporary art and our reputation for producing important solo commissions with artists at a formative point in their career.

Offsite includes commissions, collaborations, residencies and touring programmes all taking place outside the gallery. The core focus is on commissioning artists who have specific interests in collaboration and direct engagement with social and cultural contexts.