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Institute for Social Sciences Research (ISSR) newsletter - January 15 2021

Published on 15 January 2021

Our ISSR newsletter from January 15 2021, including items on ISSR engagement, research, impact, and our Graduate community

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As we start 2021, we can dream now, visit later...it might not have been the start of the year we planned but we will absolutely make up for it when it's safe to do so.

You have all embraced the situation and I hope everyone is keeping their spirits high through these tough times.

ISSR Seminar Series (Spring) 2020/2021 Programme

Speakers for the Spring 2021 programme are still being finalized.

Thursday 28 January 4pm

Join us as we welcome Dr Huw Lloyd-Richards, Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Cosmopolitan Studies, Social Anthropology Dept, University of St Andrews as our first speaker of the spring programme.

We are finalising speakers for the rest of the programme and will be able to share this news with you shortly.

Research and Impact

‘The Transgender Pains of Imprisonment' by Matt Maycock

Dr Matt Maycock is a lecturer in the School of Education and Social Work.

Sykes (1958) famously outlined five deprivations constituting the ‘pains of imprisonment’, later developed in a range of research, including research considering the gendered pains of imprisonment. Despite an increase in the visibility of transgender people in society and within prison settings, the specific pains of imprisonment experienced by transgender people have been largely overlooked. Within this context, this article analyses interviews with 13 transgender people in custody, facilitating an analysis of life within prison for transgender people. The article makes a unique contribution to the study of transgender people in custody within the devolved Scottish penal context, being the first to use the analytical lens of the ‘pains of imprisonment’ to consider the particular deprivations or frustrations that transgender people experience within prison settings.

The article can be seen in the European Journal of Criminology.

Principles, Watchdog, Strategy and Dynamic Alignment: The New Environmental Governance Arrangements in Scotland

A new blog by Professor Colin Reid, Law in the School of Social Sciences. He provides us with a timely look at the final text of the Continuity Bill and its implications for dynamic alignment, environmental principles, the watchdog (ESS) and environmental governance and strategy.

The blog post can be read on brexitenvironment.co.uk.

Knowledge, Innovation, and Impact: A Guide for the Engaged Health Researcher

Professor Judith Sixsmith and Dr Mei Fang from the School of Health Sciences have recently co-authored a book and will be available in hard copy soon. Co-editors Andrew Sixsmith (Simon Fraser University) and Alex Mihailidis (University of Toronto).

The book provides researchers with a straightforward and accessible guide for carrying out research that will help them to combine good science with real-world impact. The format of this book is simple: concise chapters on key topics, examples and case studies, written in plain language that will guide researchers through the process of research-driven innovation. The book draws on the editors’ experience in leading the Age-Well Network of Excellence. The aim of Age-Well is to drive innovation in the area of technology and ageing. Researchers often lack the knowledge and abilities to commercialize or mobilize the outcomes of their research. Moreover, there is a lack of training and education resources suitable for the wide range of disciplines and experience that is becoming more typical. The book emphasizes the practicalities of “how to” undertake the kinds of activities that researchers should be engaging in if they are serious about achieving impact. Overall, this book will guide researchers through the process of research-driven innovation.

The publication can be found through springer.com.

Funding Awards

Interdisciplinary Incubator Grant Awards

Supported by ISSR, ‘Mining’s impacts on Water & Health: An Interdisciplinary Conversation’ took place on 8th December 2020, from 2 pm to 3.45 pm (online Zoom Business), organised by Dr Maria Augusta Paim and Mr Daniel Gilbert (Extractives Hub, CEPMLP – Centre for Energy and Petroleum Law and Policy, UoD), in partnership with Dr Emmanuel Akpabio (University of Uyo, Nigeria; and Marie Curie Fellow at the UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy & Science, UoD).

Initially scheduled as a face-to-face workshop on 18th March 2020 (Carnegie Building, University of Dundee - UoD), the organisers had postponed the event following the COVID-19 social distance rules’ restrictions on gathering of people and guest speakers’ travelling. As none of the expenses (catering, travelling, accommodation) were necessary for an online event, there was no disbursement of the amount awarded.

The Webinar was chaired by Dr Maria Augusta Paim, and introduced by Professor Peter Cameron (CEPMLP, UoD), Dr Emmanuel Akpabio, and Professor John Rowan (Vice-principal, Research, Knowledge Exchange & Wider Impact). Professor Peter Cameron has acknowledged the School of Social Sciences Interdisciplinary Incubator Grant’s support. He has noted the importance of such initiatives in advancing interdisciplinary research for grants’ applications, particularly when mining is booming. Professor John Rowan has added that events like this have become essential in the times of social distance.

For Dr Emmanuel Akpabio, public health perspectives on artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in the Global South are an unexplored research area. ASM practices are mostly informal, and not much is known on the public health aspects in the Global South. In his opinion, UoD is the right leader in future research in this area, and he was confident to develop further some themes and critical questions at the interface of science, policy and society.

A full report will be available on our webpage soon. 

Share your research

If you would to be featured in the ISSR newsletter please send any items to me. This could be any staff/RPG articles of funding successes with a social science interest, COVID-19 research, awards & recognition, progress on existing work.

All news welcome!

(100-250 words will be fine – excluding links, one line intro about yourself, title and image by no later than 11am Friday). *Do not include hyperlinks. Heading/text in full and separate full link in your content please.

Access support and facilitation from ISSR
I am available on Teams on Tuesday afternoons from 2-4pm so please get in touch if you have an idea or project that you would like support in promoting and/or help facilitating with.

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Enquiries

Donna Hendry

Research and Knowledge Exchange Officer

+44 (0)1382 388173

D.C.Hendry@dundee.ac.uk
Story category Public interest