PhD Students

Adelaine Williams doctoral study (which involved a year’s field work in Uganda) explores the challenges, tensions and power dynamics that are interwoven within the narrative of accountability.

For over a year Adelaine worked with various stakeholders to develop and pilot a new model of practice known as Participatory Inquiry in Practice [PIP].

The PIP model presented 20 young women from the slums of Kampala the opportunity to debate, research and take action on subjects which were of importance to them. The groups chose to explore ‘youth unemployment’ and ‘urban crime’.

As a result of the research one group has established their own business and the other group is planning an advocacy project to raise awareness on crime."

Fecility Shenton research is exploring the possibilities of adopting a rights-based approach to challenging situations with children and young people in the secure estate' involves using participatory approaches to work with children in custody.

Felicity Shenton am working with a Young People's Advisory Group and we have developed a series of vignettes based on the experiences of young people who have been involved in physical restraint whilst they have been locked up.

The vignettes will now be used to generate discussions with young people who are currently in custody to explore issues around alternatives to the use of physical restraint as a way of managing challenging situations. We are using a rights-framework to explore these alternatives.

Using the concept of space to analyse how adults with Asperger’s syndrome choose to have a say in the services that they receive’

Jackie Martin Phd has involved participatory research with a group of adults with Asperger's syndrome. Over a period of three years we met together to design research tools, undertake interviews and focus groups with other adults with Asperger's syndrome living in Nottinghamshire to discover what they felt about the way they want to be supported.

Together, the group and I then analysed the data and held a conference in June 2012 to disseminate the results. The group called themselves the Asperger's Consultation Group and continue to meet. The research has also been presented at two international conferences in 2012 and 2013.

Raksha Pandya-Wood

Understanding the impact of service user involvement in cancer research and how it is used.

This research fits in the parameters of anepistemological social science enquiry. It is exploratory by nature and is therefore interpretivist in its approach.

In the last five years a lot of emphasis has been given to service user involvement in health research and its impact. This study is the first of its kind in attempting find out how service user influenced research findings are used to inform practice and policy in the field of cancer research.

There are two phases in this research. Phase one involves conducting 18 interviews with six different service users, six different researchers and different six stakeholders. The interviews with the different people will help to develop an understanding about what meanings are connected to the word ‘impact’ in relation to service user influenced research.

Ultimately how this impact might be demonstrated in policies and practice. Phase two will be using a research approach called a "Delphi Technique".

Delphi Technique is a research method that involves asking questions to experts, usually by email or post.

People in this process will be key opinion formers, people working in the NHS, or perhaps national government run organisations and health think tanks.

Using the Delphi approach is normally helpful in this type of research where knowledge on a topic is limited. The information generated from the interviews will have been pooled together, analysed and themed.

Before starting the Delphi, the themes will be presented in a document. All the people involved in the Delphi will be asked to further refine and consider expanding on the topic.

It is anticipated that by combining interviews and the Delphi technique, data will help develop an understanding about the impact that cancer service user involvement has on cancer research usability.