LISS DTP Summer Symposium 2023

The research presentations were seperated into three themes which the various pathways of LISS DTP confirm too : The Power of Numbers in Social Science, Bringing Together Community Voices and Adaptive Methodologies.  Below is the background of each presentation.

 

The Power of Numbers in the Social Sciences

How is city living associated with psychosis?

Rosanna Hildersley, Lukasz Cybulski, Milena Wuerth, Peter Schofield, Jayati Das-Munshi

Presented by Rosanna Hildersley
UK cities show higher incidence of psychotic disorders, but the reasons remain unclear. This case-control study uses data from one of the first and largest person-level data linkages between mental health records and the UK census to explore associations previously only assessed using ecological or smaller studies in England. The Socio-Economic Predictors of Mental Disorders (SEP-MD) project dataset comprises of data extracted from electronic health records (EHR) from the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation trust (SLaM). These EHRs were linked to the 2011 UK census as a collaboration between SLaM, the ONS and KCL. Our findings regarding urbanicity and social circumstances both confirm and provide further depth to previously identified associations. Novel findings relating to migration and interactions with ethnicity will require further investigation. These insights will provide valuable information for future public health.

 

Food insecurity and mental health during the first UK Covid-19 lockdown

Marina Kousta, Karen Glaser, Rachel Loopstra

Presented by Marina Kousta

Food shortages and shielding requirements during the first UK COVID-19 lockdown resulted in a food insecurity (Fl) rise, including among groups usually at low financial risk. Fl has been linked to poor mental health, but it is unclear if this relationship is independent of financial insecurity. To better understand these relationships, we assessed the association between Fl and mental health at this time, and whether it varied across socio-economic groups.

Bringing Together Community Voices

Care (imperative) – LGBT+ voluntary Communities in English Higher Education

Pippa Sterk

Presented by Pippa Sterk

As Higher Education in England is increasingly subject to neoliberal discourses and policies, an outcom e-focused culture of measuring and auditing progress prevails (Ahmed, 2012; Bullough, 2014; Deem and Morley, 2006; Hazelkorn, 2013). However, this focus on m easurem ent can overlook the importance of the solidarity, care, and connections that are forged in the more invisibilised and unstable parts of the university system. W here previous research into LGBT+ cam pus cultures has tended to focus on stream lining and making visible LGBT+ comm unities or individuals (e.g. Garvey et al, 2018; Kulick et al, 2017; Renn and Bilodeau, 2005), I argue that the instabilities and invisibilities of LGBT+ com m unities can also have benefits for those participating in them

 

A poststructuralist approach to exploring the role of education in a climate crisis: navigating dominant

Sophie Perry

Presented by Sophie Perry

This research explores education in the context of an environmental and climate crisis. The study in question explores both educators’ and learners’ perceptions and experiences of this education by collecting interview and observational data about the Intended, Enacted and Experienced curricula. This means the work is concerned with understanding the journey of these educational programmes from educators’ perceptions, plans and understandings about their work (Intended curricula), to what happens in practice (Enacted curricula), and finally how learners experience and respond to that practice (Experienced curricula).

 

“A Photo is worth a Thousand words”: A systematic Scoping Review of Photovoice within Mental Health Research Involving Adolescents

Madison Stephens, Eleanor Keil/er, Maeve Conneely, Victoria Jane Bird, Paul Heritage, Mariana Steffan

Presented by Madison Stephens

Photovoice is a research method that can change perceptions of mental health. However, a paucity of evidence explores the application of Photovoice in mental health research involving adolescents. Our review aimed to understand the nature and key themes across findings of Photovoice studies exploring mental health among adolescents. We used pre-existing data and updated a search strategy. Popay and colleagues’ guidance was used to analyse the studies and the quality of each study was appraised. Our review found that Photovoice studies exploring mental health among adolescents are limited in quality and that Photovoice is a flexible, adaptable, inclusive, and emerging method. Coping; resilience; beliefs about oneself; family; friends; safety; living in a lower socioeconomic area and treatment emerged as key themes across study findings. Our review is the first of its kind and highlights ways in which future Photovoice studies can be developed and is helpful to multiple stakeholders.

 

 

Adaptive Methodologies

Judged by the Machines? How do algorithms used in criminal Justice decision-making impact the
legitimacy of the system?

Previous studies of the use of algorithms in criminal justice decision-making have focused on the technical accuracy of algorithms and on the risk of bias. The literature has yet to explore in any great depth the effect of algorithmic interventions on the process of criminal justice reform or on the legitimacy of the system. This paper conducted empirical research to develop a framework to analyse the institutional effects of algorithms on the legitimacy of the justice system of England and Wales. In particular, the paper focuses on the effects of algorithms on the legitimacy of the Single Justice Procedure.

 

Flood disasters and their impact on human health

Rita Sharma Pandeya

The impacts of “natural” flood disasters and their consequences for human health and societal wellbeing are examined in this study, along with an in-depth evaluation of Nepal’s disaster management policies and practices. The main objective also includes conducting empirical research on how flood disasters have affected the residents of the Rajapur area of southwestern Nepal and the vulnerable communities living along the Bagmati Rivers in Kathmandu, Nepal. Understanding the societal context of risk and vulnerability is the main objective, and it is important to know how this knowledge may be included in Nepal’s plan of action for development and disaster risk reduction. The study is applying both qualitative and quantitative methods, including elite interviews with a semi­structured questionnaire, focus group discussions, associated documents, field notes, and observations to give a thorough picture of the case study locations.

Investigating the prevalence and impact of M ilitary Sexual Trauma (MST) on UK women service personnel: im plications for mental health, help-seeking and future support service design
Tamara Obradovic

Path dependence in career mobility: how workers’ employment trajectories are affected by insecure em ploym ent at the early career stage
Rebecca Florisson

Care-Seeking Behaviour of Pregnant Women from Under-Served Groups in High-Income Countries: A System atic Review

Tisha Dasgupta, Gillian Horgan, Sergio A Silverio, Hannah Rayment- Jones, Laura A Magee

Physical Activity Interventions in Education Contexts for University Students: A Scoping Review
Hannah Wood, Myanna Duncan, Benjamin Gardner, Eleanor Dommett

Filling the void: The reintroduction of the Eurasian Wolf in Scotland
Toryn Whitehead, Terry Dawson, Kate Schreckenberg

Brand ‘the Postfeminist Self’: An Ethnographic Study of Chinese Female Influencers on Xiaohongshu
Rendan Liu

The Role of Social Determinants of Health in Unintentional Pesticide Poisoning and Barriers to Adopting Agroecological Alternative
Vidhya Sasitharan

Flood disasters and their impact on human health
Rita Sharma Pandeya

Differentially-Private Smart Meter Data Markets: An Interdisciplinary Approach
Saurab Ch ha ch hi, Fei Teng

Pietro Panzarasa is a Professor of Networks and Innovation at Queen Mary University London and the director of the LISS-DTP. Pietro’s research concerns the structural foundations of social capital within networked communities. He frequently collaborates with people in industry and policymaking. Pietro is passionate about engaging with the next generation of social science researchers to push the boundaries of conventional methodologies and expand insights generated within the Social Sciences.

Vas Papageorgiou was recently awarded her PhD in Public Health from Imperial College London (LISS DTP Cohort 2019-22). She has been working as a Senior Researcher at the Royal College of Psychiatrists since January 2023.
In her current role, Vas is responsible for overseeing the research programme of the Public Mental Health Implementation Centre which sits in the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health at The Royal College of Psychiatrists. This includes conducting literature reviews, supporting the writing of policy responses, and working with experts by experience to inform the work of the Centre.
In her talk, Vas will reflect on her experiences since completing the PhD including how research works outside of traditional academia

Michael Sanders is a Professor of Public Policy in the Policy Institute at King’s College London. He was previously Chief Executive of What Works for Children’s Social Care, and Chief Scientist and Director of Research at the Behavioural Insights Team, also known as the world’s first nudge unit. In his academic and policy work he has conducted and overseen hundreds of randomised controlled trials, with his own research primarily focused on social and human capital, pro-social behaviour, and social mobility.

A student may apply to transfer from full-time to part-time award status or vice versa.  Such transfers should start from the beginning of a quarter (eg. 1 October, 1 January, 1 April or 1 July).  The remaining length of your studentship will be recalculated on the basis of funding already received and your time commitment.
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• Cannot be made in the last 6 months of your funded award period or unfunded period thereafter except in very exceptional circumstances.
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• Can be considered where a change in domestic circumstances means that a dependent requires more of the award holder’s time or where the award holder wishes to take up part-time employment.

The ESRC expects that, barring exceptional circumstances, permanent transfers will occur only once in the lifetime of an award. The CV-19 pandemic counts as exceptional circumstances.

Change of status for part-time students for fixed periods (such as for the duration of your overseas fieldwork):

Must be arranged in consultation with the LISS DTP team.  Part-time students must take unpaid leave from their part-time jobs for the duration of the full-time transfer period and are subject to the same conditions on ‘other work’ as a full-time student for the duration of their transfer period.

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Any transfers must be done with the agreement of all parties involved (original and new institutions and DTPs, and the ESRC) and require legal agreements to be drawn up. Whilst LISS DTP will always consider the case of a student wishing to transfer, it has no obligation to transfer your funding to another institution and complications arise where a student’s funding comes partly from the ESRC and partly from an institutional contribution. ( LISS DTP can tell you whether this applies to you.) Transfers between LISS DTP institutions are usually easier to arrange than transfers to other universities.

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