www.dundee.ac.uk/wtru
The White Top Research Unit in an integral part of the Department of Social Work, University of Dundee.
The Unit was established in 1991 with the purpose of developing research in the field of profound and multiple intellectual disability and related fields. The Unit's Director, Professor James Hogg, was also commissioned to establish a day and respite service for people with profound and complex disabilities, the White Top Centre, which he planned and directed from 1991-1997.
Funding for the White Top Research Unit has come through research grants and consultancy contracts, the latter principally from Dundee City Council and Fife Primary Care NHS Trust (1997-2001).
Research undertaken is described in Research Activity. This has focussed principally on the needs of people with profound and multiple intellectual disabilities and their families (See Projects 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 17, 19, and 21), ageing and lifespan development (Projects 3, 5, 7, 12, and 15).
Other studies have examined various aspects of community care provision (Projects 13, 17 and 22) while research into intellectual disability and the creative arts (Project 18), training for staff with respect to abuse and intellectual disability (Project 9), offenders and alleged offenders (Project 14) and multisensory environments (Project 16) have been undertaken. In 2002 Professor Hogg was invited by the Scottish Executive to prepare a grant application on behalf of the Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability to develop a national intellectual disability data base (Project 22). Outside of the field of intellectual disability studies of the resettlement of residents with mental health needs in the community are ongoing (Project 23) and support for relatives caring for a family member with dementia (Project 20).
Many of the above projects have been conducted in collaboration with other departments in the Universities of Dundee and St. Andrews.
Professor Hogg has been responsible for the teaching of research methods to a range of MSc course provided by the Department of Social Work and the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, including the MSc in Health and Social Care. He is working collaboratively with the Department of Psychology, University of St. Andrews in developing Certificate, Diploma and MSc course in the additional needs of adults with intellectual disabilities.
Professor Hogg is a founder member of the Royal Society of Medicine Forum on Intellectual Disabilities of which he is a past President and at present International Liaison Office. He is a member of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disability (IASSID) and publications officer for the Executive Board of the IASSID Special Interest Research Group on ageing and intellectual disability and founder member of IASSID's profound disability Special Interest Research Group. He was made a Fellow of IASSID in 2002. He works activity with the voluntary sector being a founding member with his wife of Pamis, a voluntary organisation supporting people with profound disabilities and their families. He is a governor of Capability Scotland and Vice-President of Enable. Professor Hogg in collaboration with other intellectual disability organisations in Scotland successfully bid to establish the Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability of which he is a Trustee with a parent, Mrs Anne Brown, on behalf of the University of Dundee.