Seminar Series at the Institute for Social Sciences Research
ISSR programme 2022 - 2023
25 April 2023
Back to the New Feudalism: Rethinking Frontline Private Security Work in Quasi-Public Space - 16:00 - 18:00, Dalhousie Building
We are delighted to welcome Dr Adam White, Law School University of Sheffield to Dundee to deliver a talk as part of the our programme of activities. Dr White will be hosted by Megan O’Neill, Reader in Human Geography in the Division of Energy, Environment and Society, School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law and Associate Director, Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR).
The seminar will be in person (16:00 - 17:15), followed by a short drinks reception (up to 18:00) allowing time for networking.
Background
Dr White is an internationally-recognised scholar in the field of private security and private military industries, including their governance, legitimacy and regulation in a range of jurisdictions and his work encompasses criminology, politics and geography.
This seminar will have a wide appeal in the ISSR community and be of interest to academic staff, our PhD community and researchers.
Further details can be found on the Eventbrite booking page where you can register for the seminar.
28 April 2022
ISSR Seminar Series | Rural Older Adults in Disasters: A Study of Recovery from Hurricane Michael - 16:00 to 17:15
We are delighted to confirm Dr Patricia Fletcher as the second speaker of the spring programme. The seminar will be hosted by Dr Mei Fang and is aligned under the ISSR themes: Social Justice and Social Change, Health and Wellbeing and Environment.
Background
Dr Fletcher is a leading aging influencer with a national and global reach on innovative insights in public health and social science research to improve older persons’ quality of life. She has diversified experiences working with state, national, not-for-profit, and private companies and is a former adjunct professor in communication and aging studies. Dr Fletcher has technical expertise in psychology and aging, data analysis strategies, policy processes for social change, program evaluation, public policy & law, design thinking, and marketing communications. She holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Communication, an M.S. in Gerontology, a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies of Public Policy & Social Change, and a post-graduate Design Thinking Certificate. She is an active member of the Gerontological Society of America, the American Public Health Society (Section Councillor in Aging & Public Health), the NGO Committee on Ageing NY ( Global Alliances & the to Promote the Human Rights Convention of Older Persons).
Who should attend?
The seminar will be of interest to member schools and across the University.
ISSR programme 2020-2021
28 January 2021
A National Care Service? But what do we mean by care? - 16:00 to 17:00 pm
We welcome Dr Huw Lloyd-Richards, Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Cosmopolitan Studies, Social Anthropology Dept, University of St Andrews.
The covid-19 pandemic has brought underlying structural difficulties in how care is understood and provided into sharp relief. There is political talk in Scotland of a National Care Service (NCS), to operate alongside the National Health Service and a review of adult social care has been initiated. But just what care is and how best to deliver it is not straightforward. Recourse to dominant ideas of a service-based around human rights or around the integration of health and social care raises questions about different knowledge practices across sectors.
Based around ongoing work on a response to the current review, this seminar will seek to generate a discourse on a NCS which takes us further in exploring what we might mean by it and, if we were to go down that road, how we might create one.
This aligns with our Social Justice and Social Change and Governance, Policy and Regulation themes. It will be of interest across the four ISSR Schools but also more widely to include Medicine. The seminar is chaired by ISSR Co-Director Professor Mark Smith.
18 February 2021
Toronto Homeshare Programme: Supporting Canada's Ageing Population to Safely and Effectively Age In Place - 16:00 to 17:00pm
We are delighted to confirm Dr Raza Mirza as the second speaker of the Spring Seminar Series and will be hosted by Dr Mei Fang and is aligned under the ISSR theme: Health and Wellbeing.
Dr. Mirza is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Toronto’s Institute for Life Course and Aging and the Network Manager for the non-profit organization. The National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly (NICE), an international knowledge transfer network in the field of ageing. Dr Mirza received his MSc and doctorate degrees from the Graduate Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Toronto’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. His areas of expertise and teaching interest include research methods, medical decision-making, the socio-behavioural determinants of health in persons ageing with a chronic illness, health policy, and factors influencing late-life social, mental and physical well-being. He has been an invited speaker at national and international gerontology and geriatrics conferences, workshops and symposiums, and has consulted with various levels of government on diverse issues related to an ageing population.
The panel will be chaired by ISSR Co-Director Professor Judith Sixsmith.
2 March 2021
COVID: One Year on from Lockdown - 14:00 to 16:00pm
The Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR) has arranged a third panel in the series showcasing COVID related research that’s going on across our community.
Dr Joanne McPeake presenting: ‘Navigating the long-term consequences of COVID-19 in Scotland’ - The short-term health and social impact of COVID-19 in Scotland has been well documented. Less is known about the long-term consequences of COVID-19 for patients and the healthcare system.
Professor Andrew Sixsmith presenting ‘COVID-19 and AgeTech’ - The COVID-19 pandemic has particularly impacted older adults. Technology has increasingly been seen as a solution to support older adults during this time. AgeTech refers to the use of existing and emerging advanced technologies, such as digital media, information and communication technologies (ICTs), mobile technologies, wearables and smart home systems, to help keep older adults connected and to deliver health and community services.
We will also hear from a group of researchers from across the ISSR community who will discuss and reflect on the impact of the pandemic and what this means for their research. Details of the final line up will be available in due course.
The panel will be of interest across the four ISSR Schools but also more widely across the University. The panel will be chaired by ISSR Co-Director Professor Judith Sixsmith.
16 March 2021
TikTok and COVID-19: Doing Social Science in Dynamic Digital Environments - 16:00 to 17:00 pm
We welcome Professor Andy Miah, Chair in Science and Communication, Salford University. The focus of the talk will be on the methodological challenges with undertaking social scientific work within TikTok and what are some of the crucial considerations needed to undertake research responsibly and effectively to come to terms with the lived experiences of digital natives.
Prof Miah will be hosted by Dr Gillian Bartle, Education and Social Work and is aligned under the ISSR themes of Innovation in Methods and Data Analytics; Environment: Health and Wellbeing and Governance, Policy and Regulation.
Professor Andy Miah, Chair in Science Communications & Future Media in the School of Science, Engineering and Environment at Salford University. His research examines the intersections of art, ethics, technology and culture and he has also given over 300 major conference presentations and he is often invited to speak about philosophical and ethical issues concerning technology in society, from artificial intelligence to human enhancement. He is a Fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, USA and holds board memberships with the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Science and Industry Museum, Manchester.
30 March 2021
Exploring Age-Friendly Cities and Communities: Lessons from India, Brazil and the UK - 16:00 to 17:00 pm
A global ageing population presents opportunities and challenges to designing urban environments that support ageing in place. The World Health Organisation’s Global Age-Friendly Cities movement has identified the need to develop communities that optimise health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age. Yet there has been an absence of cross-national research exploring experiences of older adults particularly in the Global South. This paper draws upon findings from two ESRC funded projects exploring how ageing and place is experienced across 9 cities and 27 neighbourhoods in the UK, India and Brazil. The seminar will identify implications for the delivery of age-friendly cities and communities.
Professor Woolrych will be hosted by Professor Judith Sixsmith, ISSR Co-Director and is aligned under the ISSR themes of Environment and Health and Wellbeing.
15 April 2021
Disabling Justice: Impairment as crime and punishment - 16:00 to 17:00 pm
We welcome Bill Hughes, Professor of Sociology in the Glasgow School of Business and Society, Glasgow Caledonian University.
The duo of crime and punishment invoke an agent that offends and a penalty that follows; a rule breached and a proportionate response. The balanced scale is the metaphor suggesting equilibrium between damage and penalty, wrong-doing and suffering. Justice has been done. Disability, however does not sit easily in this symmetrical framework, for impairment is conceived in early western systems of meaning as, simultaneously, crime and punishment. In the circular theodicy of ableism, an offensive act is not required for punishment to follow. Disability need not do anything wrong to be a crime. It just is – ontologically so. It comes into being as such. Impairment is also a punishment, inflicted by ancient gods and by monotheistic Christianity. I will try to unpack this argument, in what follows, by examining the miracle in Medieval Christianity and the pharmakos or scapegoat in Ancient Greece.
This aligns with our Social Justice and Social Change and Health and Wellbeing themes. It will be of interest across the four ISSR Schools but also more widely across the University. The seminar is chaired by ISSR Co-Director Professor Judith Sixsmith and moderated by Dr Teodor Mladenov, School of Education and Social Work.
20 May 2021
Why and How Individuals Commit Professional Misconduct? - 16:00 to 17:00 pm
The last two decades have witnessed a sharp increase in large scale organizational misconduct. While the roles of individuals and firms have been evidenced, it is less well-understood how and why individuals commit professional misconduct. Drawing on 18 months of interviews and focus groups with 70 inmates at a federal prison in the United States (US), our research provides four insights into what causes individuals to commit professional misconduct. First, individuals rarely set out to commit misconduct, but rather sleep-walk across ethical lines. Second, organizational factors dynamically interact with individual triggers to cause individuals to succumb to professional misconduct, when placed within a certain environmental context. In contrast to current evidence which privileges individual explanatory factors, we argue that the interaction of individual triggers alongside environmental and organizational considerations provides a holistic explanation of professional misconduct. Third, individual intuition rather than greed drives professional misconduct. Fourth, despite an emphasis on improving controls, compliance and normative behaviours, excessive regulation can surprisingly increase misconduct. We argue that these insights are particularly salient in the post-coronavirus economy when individuals are likely to face unprecedented pressures to cut costs, set aggressive financial targets, and implement cumbersome regulatory changes.
Professor Harvey will be hosted by Dr Norin Arshed, University of Dundee Business School is aligned under the ISSR themes of Innovation in Methods and Data Analytics; Environment; and Governance, Policy and Regulation.
30 November 2020
Why Ethical Behaviour is Good for the Economy: Towards Growth, Wellbeing and Freedom - 15:00 to 16:00 pm
We welcome Morris Altman, Professor, Chair of Behavioural & Institutional Economics, & Co-operatives and Dean, Dundee Business School
This aligns with our Innovation in Methods and Data Analytics and Health and Wellbeing themes. The seminar is chaired by ISSR Co-Director and seminar lead Professor Judith Sixsmith.
Professor Altman will present a talk on his book 'Why Ethical Behaviour is Good for the Economy: Towards Growth, Wellbeing and Freedom, Edward Elgar Publishers, 2020.
The importance of ethics to economics and the economy has been a long-standing concern and debate amongst scholars and public policy pundits. A key contribution of this book is to model ethical behaviour, demonstrating why ethical behaviour can have serious positive economic and wellbeing outcomes and be consistent with competitive market economies. Contrary to conventional economic theory, which has a profound effect on policy, being ethical can be an engine of economic growth and development.
18 November 2020
Lightning Talks Forum for new PhD students - 14:00 to 16:00pm
The ‘Lightning Talks Forum’ round 2 will provide a spotlight on our Research Students from across our four participating Schools. It is an opportunity to showcase their research and interests.
The format/ specific theme is up to you and should last from around 5-7 mins depending on how many provide a talk.
If you have joined our Schools since July 2019 and would like to talk briefly about your research please let us know via ISSR@dundee.ac.uk.
3 November 2020
From vibrations in the ear to abstractions in the head - 14:00 to 16:00 pm
We welcome David Poeppel, Professor of Psychology and Neural Science, New York University and Director of the Max-Planck-Institute, Frankfurt. He will present a talk that aims to describe some intuitively simple and fun but surprising results that illuminate the temporal structure of perceptual experience. From recognizing speech and melodies to building abstract mental structures, how the brain constructs and represents time reveals unexpected puzzles.
21 October 2020
Lightning Talks Forum for new Staff and Postdocs - 14:00 to 16:00pm
The ‘Lightning Talks Forum’ is a welcome for new staff and postdocs across our four participating Schools. It is an opportunity to showcase your research and interests.
The format/ specific theme is up to you and should last from around 5-7 mins depending on how many provide a talk.
If you have joined our Schools since July 2019 and would like to talk briefly about your research please let us know via ISSR@dundee.ac.uk.
22 September 2020
The Pandemic: Where are we now?
The current pandemic presents an interdisciplinary research challenge.
Following the success of our event in April, ISSR hosted a rapid reaction seminar to exchange ideas on the implications between its co-directors and the university community.
This second seminar will take stock of ongoing research initiatives, and explore potential of cooperation for researchers across ISSR’s constitutive schools.