Categories
Book Club Elder Abuse

EDI Book Club: Elder Abuse Day

15th June

By Connor Richardson with Recommendations from the Lit and Phil.

Thank you for popping into the book club! Finding good recommendations around elder abuse has proved quite difficult! However, I figure as part of elder abuse day we should be celebrating ageing and older people. So I hope you enjoy these books in that sprirt.

Con

Happy Old Me: How to Live A Long Life, and Really Enjoy It

Hunter Davies | Memoir

On 8th February 2016, Margaret Forster lost her life to cancer of the spine. The days that followed for her husband, Hunter Davies, were carried out on autopilot: arrangements to be made, family and friends to be contacted. But how do you cope after you have lost your loved one? How do you carry on?

Ken Loach might have turned all this into a powerful social film, but the avuncular Davies sprinkles in so many cheery anecdotes that the book bounces along enjoyably

Sunday Times


As Hunter navigates what it means to be alone again after 55 years of marriage, coping with bereavement and being elderly (he still doesn’t believe he is), he shares his wisdom and lessons he has learnt living alone again. Revealing his emotional journey over the course of one year, as well as the often ignored practical implications of becoming widowed, he learns that, ultimately, bricks and mortar may change but the memories will remain. 

Part memoir, part self-help, Happy Old Me is a fitting, heart-felt tribute to the love of his life and a surprisingly amusing and informative book about an age, and stage in life, which we might all reach someday. The third book in Hunter Davies’ much-loved memoir series, which includes The Co-Op’s Got Bananas and A Life in the Day. 

You’re looking well: the surprising nature of getting old

Lewis Wolpert | Non-fiction

We now live longer today than at any time in history. In the UK, more people are aged over sixty-five than under sixteen and by 2050, over a third of the developed world will be over sixty. How should we deal with this phenomenon? What are the scientific reasons for ageing? And can – or should – we prevent it?

Lewis Wolpert, distinguished biologist and octogenarian, explores the scientific background and the implications of our ageing population. In this engaging investigation, he tackles every aspect of the subject from ageism to euthanasia to anti-ageing cream and, through it all, tries to better understand his own ageing. Witty, frank and often inspiring, Lewis Wolpert is the perfect guide to ‘looking very well’.

Gangsta Granny

David Walliams | Children

Another hilarious and moving novel from David Walliams, number one bestseller and fastest growing children s author in the country.

A story of prejudice and acceptance, funny lists and silly words, this new book has all the hallmarks of David s previous bestsellers.

Our hero Ben is bored beyond belief after he is made to stay at his grandma s house. She s the boringest grandma ever: all she wants to do is to play Scrabble, and eat cabbage soup. But there are two things Ben doesn t know about his grandma.

1) She was once an international jewel thief.

2) All her life, she has been plotting to steal the Crown Jewels, and now she needs Ben s help

Don’t bring me no rocking chair

John Halliday | Poetry

Gathering poems from Shakespeare to the present, Don’t Bring Me No Rocking Chair addresses ageing through the several ages of poetry. Now more than ever, as more of us live for longer, the idea of what it means to age or to grow old engages and concerns people of all ages.

One of the problems of ageing is the language we use to define it and the list of pejoratives associated with it, with attitudes to ageing ranging from ‘fatalism, denial, negative stereotyping and tunnel vision to fantasy’ (Professor Tom Kirkwood, Newcastle University). Poetry can help to give us a fresh language to think about ageing and these poems are chosen to fortify, celebrate, lament, grieve, rage and ridicule. There is not one way to age but neither can any of us truly stop our bodies from ageing.

In our youth-obsessed culture, there is something exquisitely subversive about a book that celebrates old age…As with all anthologies, its delight lies in revisiting old favourites and discovering poems one might not have come across otherwise

Juanita Coulson, The Lady.

Ageing is not a single phenomenon but complex, multiple, perplexing: experienced historically as well as individually. This anthology may not console but it can widen our perspectives, helping us to change what we can change: our attitudes. Joan Bakewell writes in the Foreword: ‘With age comes a growing thoughtfulness: what was it all for?

What have we made of our lives, what have we known of love, what have we enjoyed of beauty and how do we come to terms with our going? This remarkable book contains thoughts on all such concerns. Its variety is extensive but one thing is sustained throughout. The quality of ideas and expression is of the highest. On whichever page you alight there is something that will offer comfort, delight, and insight. While the world of money, ambition and worldly cares recedes, matters of the heart and spirit come to matter more. This book is the ideal companion on that journey.’ This anthology was prepared for the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts as part of the Societal Challenge Theme on Ageing at Newcastle University with support from the Institute of Ageing and Health, Newcastle University.

The Thursday Murder Club

Richard Osman | Fiction

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.

But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

Pure escapism

The Guardian

Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it’s too late?

Categories
Book Club World Refugee Day

Book Club: World Refugee Day

Monday 20th June 2022

By Connor Richardson with Recommendations from the Lit and Phil.

Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi | Graphic Novel

In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.

“Delectable. . . Dances with drama and insouciant wit.”

New York Times

Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. Marjane’s child’s-eye view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, with laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love.

Exit West

Mohsin Hamid | Fiction

In a country teetering on the brink of civil war, two young people meet–sensual, fiercely independent Nadia and gentle, restrained Saeed. They embark on a furtive love affair, and are soon cloistered in a premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. When it explodes, turning familiar streets into a patchwork of checkpoints and bomb blasts, they begin to hear whispers about doors–doors that can whisk people far away, if perilously and for a price. As the violence escalates, Nadia and Saeed decide that they no longer have a choice. Leaving their homeland and their old lives behind, they find a door and step through. . . .

“Moving, audacious, and indelibly human.”

Entertainment Weekly

Exit West follows these remarkable characters as they emerge into an alien and uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other, to their past, to the very sense of who they are. Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, it tells an unforgettable story of love, loyalty, and courage that is both completely of our time and for all time.

The day war came

Nicola Davies | Children’s

Imagine if, on an ordinary day, war came. Imagine it turned your town to rubble. Imagine going on a long and difficult journey – all alone. Imagine finding no welcome at the end of it. Then imagine a child who gives you something small but very, very precious…

There are few modern children’s books that make you cry. This is one of them.

The Times

When the government refused to allow 3000 child refugees to enter this country in 2016, Nicola Davies was so angry she wrote a poem. It started a campaign for which artists contributed drawings of chairs, symbolising a seat in a classroom, education, kindness, the hope of a future. The poem has become this book, movingly illustrated by Rebecca Cobb, which should prove a powerful aid for explaining the ongoing refugee crisis to younger readers.

We are displaced

Malala Yousafzai| Memoir

Nobel Peace Prize winner and bestselling author Malala Yousafzai introduces some of the faces behind the statistics and news stories we read or hear every day about the millions of people displaced worldwide.

A stirring and timely book.

The New York Times

Malala’s experiences visiting refugee camps caused her to reconsider her own displacement – first as an Internally Displaced Person when she was a young child in Pakistan, and then as an international activist who could travel anywhere in the world, except to the home she loved. In We Are Displaced, which is part memoir, part communal storytelling, Malala not only explores her own story of adjusting to a new life while longing for home, but she also shares the personal stories of some of the incredible girls she has met on her various journeys – girls who have lost their community, relatives, and often the only world they’ve ever known.

In a time of immigration crises, war and border conflicts, We Are Displaced is an important reminder from one of the world’s most prominent young activists that every single one of the 68.5 million currently displaced is a person – often a young person – with hopes and dreams, and that everyone deserves universal human rights and a safe home.

Categories
International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia

International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia

Ryan Fallon
History of Medicine MA Student

Since 2004 we celebrate on the 17th of May sexual and gender diversity. The International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia also draws our attention to the continuous discrimination and violence faced by LGBTQ+ communities. This year, the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) has as its theme for this day “Our Bodies, Our Lives, Our Rights”, underlining the fundamental human right to bodily autonomy. Conversion therapy is one of the many discriminatory and violent acts against gender identity and sexual orientation, against the right to bodily autonomy. Newcastle’s master’s student in history of medicine, Ryan Fallon, has been looking into the history of conversion therapy. This blog highlights the feeling of shame experienced by many in the past who were exposed to conversion therapy.

Please note this blog may be distressing for some readers.

“BORN THIS WAY!” by Steve Baker is licensed under CC BY-ND

Gender, Sexuality and Space: A History of Emotions approach to Conversion Therapy in the U.K. in the 1960s and 1970s.

On the 1st of April 2022 the government made an announcement regarding conversion therapy in the United Kingdom. Conversion therapy would now be banned, but only for bisexuality and homosexuality (Gallagher/Perry 2022). Trans people could undergo conversion therapy without any repercussions being given to the institution administering it.

To avoid controversy, conversion therapy is dependent on the “voluntary” admission of the “patient”. When using a history of emotions framework, however, it is obvious that conversion therapy can never truly be “voluntary”. Shame is an active emotion that comes about because of a person’s action. They feel ashamed for what they have done. Shame forces people to act in a certain way to remove the negative emotion. The individual wants to remove anything that is shameful from themselves because shameful actions threaten their standing within the group (Stearns 2017: 4). Conversion therapy, as a “treatment”, is dependent on both these concepts. It is dependent on how society views the act that the “patient” needs an aversion to. It is also dependent on the individual being shamed – by society – for that act. As I will explore within this post, the history of conversion therapy in the 1960s and 1970s is linked with the emotion of shame. LGBT people could not experience space without feelings of shame. Transgender and homosexuality were positioned as a shameful act by society to maintain social hierarchies. This ultimately led to some LGBT people seeking “voluntary” conversion therapy.

Conversion therapy in the 1960s and 1970s, much like its use today, was predicated on excluding people from societal spaces. People could be excluded from their church, their school, or their workplace, because their actions did not conform to the standards set by society. During these two decades, public space was determined along the lines of religion, nationalism, and heterosexuality. Various governments used economic incentives to constantly replicate religious, nationalistic, and heteronormative societal norms; whilst the popular press continued to republish societal expectations. Family allowance, for instance, gave economic benefits to heterosexual unions (Weeks 2018: 256). Women’s magazines supported the idea of heterosexual unions by pressuring women to seek a “nuclear family” (Jennings 2007: 77). Shame comes about when one judges themselves to have failed to live up to societal standards (Taylor 1985: 54). LGBT people, because of their gender dysphoria or sexual orientation, found it impossible to live up to these societal codes. This was often the cause of feeling ashamed. Conversion therapy thus appeared to LGBT people as a way to “cure” themselves; to be able to live the way society expected of them. Not only would it remove the over-encumbering emotion of shame, but it would also allow people to live up to societal standards.

Aversion therapy apparatus from St. Francis Psychiatric Hospital, Sussex, England, 1950-1980. Science Museum Group Collection Online. Accessed May 16, 2022.

The veterinary student Ughtred Lovis-Douglas, who was homosexual, talked about how he found out about conversion therapy when interviewed by researcher Tommy Dickinson (Dickinson 2015: 70). Conversion therapy gave Ughtred a sense of “hope” (ibid). It meant that he could “be normal and like the other lads” (ibid). Ughtred’s account shows how space can have an impact on someone’s emotional response. Ughtred’s homosexuality excluded him from the masculinised environment that was created by the “other lads”. Ughtred wasn’t “normal” because he wasn’t heterosexual; he wasn’t following the codes that had been set by his society. Ughtred, as he expressed in the interview, felt shame for not being “normal”, whilst conversion therapy appeared to him as a medical solution. Conversion therapy was consequently perceived by Ughtred as a way to live up to societal standards.

Greta Gold, a trans person, recounted her own experiences of conversion therapy: “All I had to do was open the daily paper and it was rubbed in my face how evil and perverse I was. It made me feel like ending it all. I knew I had to do something: it was either kill myself or cure myself” (ibid: 54).Gold’s account unveils another aspect of societal codes. In Gold’s account it is the public press using their power to create a toxic space for trans people. Gold feels “evil” and “perverse” because she is trans. Gold’s account shows how forced conversion therapy truly was. Gold did not make a free decision, rather she felt compelled as a result of the “daily paper”. To get rid of the negative emotions, Gold had to find a “cure”. The “cure” would seemingly purge Gold of any “evil” thereby allowing her to live by the codes set by society. 

Lesbian and bisexual women were also impacted by the practice of conversion therapy. Their voices have been uncovered in a recent project by researchers Sarah Carr and Helen Spandler (Carr/Spandler 2019). Female experiences of conversion therapy have often gone unnoticed in the archive, often due to the focus on male homosexuality. Nevertheless, women also experienced shame for their sexuality. Mira recounts the fear of “being shunned” for her sexuality (Murphy 2013: 172). Mira “tried to conform”, and thus got married (ibid). Mira – like many women – felt compelled into marriage due to the social codes associated with the practice. For her to be a lesbian was shameful. It was seen as shameful as it was outside the social codes that had been set along heterosexual lines. These codes would have been pushed onto women by the abovementioned magazines. Whilst Mira did not undergo conversion therapy, some women did because they did not live up to societal codes. Mira is, nonetheless, an example of how societal codes can impact someone whose sexual orientation does not align with the standards that have been set. 

What I have attempted to demonstrate is that social codes – pushed by political entities – can have huge ramifications on the emotions of individuals. LGBT people were forced, by social codes, to seek conversion therapy. Much like the account of Ughtred Lovis-Douglas, LGBT people had a negative experience with space because they didn’t fit the social codes of the dominant group. These experiences only heighten the need for positive queer spaces. Places are needed where people can feel positive emotions. Negative emotions, such as shame, can often force people to do things that would not align with their interests. In the case of conversion therapy, people felt compelled to seek “medical” treatment for something that couldn’t be cured. Due to the practice being reliant on negative emotions, it is important to ban the “treatment” outright for all people regardless of their sexuality or gender alignment.

Bibliography

Dickinson, Tommy. ‘Curing Queers’: Mental Nurses and their Patients, 1935-1974. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2015.

Gallagher, Sophie and Perry, Josh. “Conversion therapy: Ban to go ahead but not cover trans people”, BBC News, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60947028 Accessed 20th April 2022.

Jennings, Rebecca. Tomboys and Bachelor Girls: A Lesbian History of Post-War Britain, 1945-71. Manchester: University of Manchester Press, 2007.

Murphy, Amy. ““I Conformed; I got married. It seemed like a good idea at the time”: Domesticity in Post-War Lesbian Oral History”, in British Queer History, 165-187,Edited by Brian lewis. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013

Spandler, Helen and Carr Sarah. “Lesbian and Bisexual Women’s experiences of Aversion Therapy in England”, History of Science (2021): 1-19.

Stearns, Peter. Shame: A Brief History. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2017.

Taylor, Gabriele. Pride, Shame and Guilt: Emotions of Self-Assessment. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985.

Weeks, Jeffery. Sex, Politics and Society. Fourth Edition. New York: Routledge, 2018.

Categories
Book Club LGBT+

Book Club: International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia

May 17th

By Connor Richardson with Recommendations from the Lit and Phil.

Girl, Woman, Other

Bernardine Evaristo | Fiction

This is Britain as you’ve never read it.
This is Britain as it has never been told.

‘Beautifully interwoven stories of identity, race, womanhood, and the realities of modern Britain. The characters are so vivid, the writing is beautiful and it brims with humanity’ 

Nicola Sturgeon


From Newcastle to Cornwall, from the birth of the twentieth century to the teens of the twenty-first, Girl, Woman, Other follows a cast of twelve characters on their personal journeys through this country and the last hundred years. They’re each looking for something – a shared past, an unexpected future, a place to call home, somewhere to fit in, a lover, a missed mother, a lost father, even just a touch of hope . . .

THE SUNDAY TIMES 1# BESTSELLER & BOOKER PRIZE WINNER

BRITISH BOOK AWARDS AUTHOR & FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 

History of Violence

Édouard Louis | Autobiographical fiction

The radical, urgent new novel from the author of The End of Eddy – a personal and powerful story of violence.

‘It stays with you’

The Times

‘A heartbreaking novel’

John Boyne


I met Reda on Christmas Eve 2012, at around four in the morning. He approached me in the street, and finally I invited him up to my apartment. He told me the story of his childhood and how his father had come to France, having fled Algeria. 

We spent the rest of the night together, talking, laughing. At around 6 o’clock, he pulled out a gun and said he was going to kill me. He insulted me, strangled and raped me. The next day, the medical and legal proceedings began.

History of Violence retraces the story of that night, and looks at immigration, class, racism, desire and the effects of trauma in an attempt to understand a history of violence, its origins, its reasons and its causes. 

Transgender History

Susan Stryker | Non-fiction

Covering American transgender history from the mid-twentieth century to today, Transgender History takes a chronological approach to the subject of transgender history, with each chapter covering major movements, writings, and events.

An invaluable text for anyone who wants to better understand evolving concepts of gender. Essential.

CHOICE

Chapters cover the transsexual and transvestite communities in the years following World War II; trans radicalism and social change, which spanned from 1966 with the publication of The Transsexual Phenomenon, and lasted through the early 1970s; the mid-’70s to 1990-the era of identity politics and the changes witnessed in trans circles through these years; and the gender issues witnessed through the ’90s and ’00s.

Ground-breaking and all-around excellent.

Autostraddle

Transgender History includes informative sidebars highlighting quotes from major texts and speeches in transgender history and brief biographies of key players, plus excerpts from transgender memoirs and discussion of treatments of transgenderism in popular culture.

This timely and relevant book should be required reading.

Portland Book Review

And Tango Makes Three

Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell & Henry Cole | Childrens

Roy and Silo are two boy penguins who live in the zoo in New York’s Central Park. They like to spend all their time together, and so just as the boy and girl penguins begin to build nests, so do Roy and Silo.

But then eggs start to appear in all the other nests, and Roy and Silo’s nest remains empty. So the penguin keeper gets the idea to give them an egg that’s not wanted by another couple.

This is a really delightful story and the message behind it is subtle. It’s a true story, and you can learn more about it in a note at the end.

Categories
Ramadan

Stories of Muslim researchers during Ramadan

Blog post by Ania Couchinho with contributions from Nafisa Insan

Ania Couchinho

Ramadan is the 9th month in the Islamic Hijiri lunar based calendar. This year the crescent moon was spotted on the evening of the 1st of April marking the first day of Ramadan for the Islamic year of 1443. Sighting for a possible crescent moon that will indicate the end of Ramadan will begin on Saturday night, the 30th April. This sighting will indicate the beginning of Islamic Eid festivities. This year PHSI committee member and ARC funded PhD student Ania Couchinho sought to highlight the experience of researchers during Ramadan.

Categories
International Women's Day

International Women’s Day

Each year on the 8th of March, the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women are celebrated across the world on International Women’s Day (IWD). This day also serves as a mark to a call to action for accelerating gender parity and equality.  For IWD 2022, we are collectively being asked to #BreakTheBias. As individuals we are accountable for our own thoughts and decisions, and as such, we can break the bias in our local communities and workplaces. 

Here in Population Health Sciences Institute, at Newcastle University, we are marking IWD by celebrating the achievements of three talented female postgraduate students who are researching very diverse areas of female health and social care.  These examples highlight the advancements and contributions our institute are making towards an agenda to #BreakTheBias

Blog collated by Greig Taylor, PHSI EDI Committee PGR Representative

Ânia Couchinho, ARC Funded PhD Student

Ânia Couchinho

My ARC funded PhD supervised by Dr Nicola Heslehurst  , Dr Ryc Aquino, Dr Allison Farnworth and Dr Lem Ngongalah, started in 2020. The research aims to develop recommendations for the enhancement of maternity care for Black women in the UK. Currently, I am conducting a systematic review on the experiences of Black women who have received maternity care in countries with white dominant populations. Within this systematic review my objectives are to identify and synthesise the barriers and facilitators within the maternity care experiences of Black women in countries where they face ethno-cultural barriers. In the future I hope to engage with Black women and maternity health care providers. Primary accounts will hopefully provide insight into how structural barriers influence Black women’s maternity care provision and engagement.

There is an increasing amount of literature surrounding women’s experiences with structural marginalisation. However, I decided to specifically pursue research in women’s health so that I could explore the ways in which systemic barriers are echoed within essential services. Although it is important that research in all topic areas work towards closing this gap, I decided to pursue research in women’s health because quality healthcare impacts every aspect of life. Coupled with the systemic economic and social disadvantages women already experience, inadequate healthcare significantly alters women’s quality of life. My focus on Black women’s health is due to my own identity but also because of the level of marginalisation and social exclusion Black women experience at the intersection of race and gender. I hope to contribute towards increasing the awareness and commitment to Black women’s lives.

Claire Smiles, FUSE funded PhD Student

Claire Smiles

I am a third year PhD student funded by FUSE and supervised by Dr. Ruth McGovern, Professor Eileen Kaner and Professor Judith Rankin. My interest in the reproductive health and wellbeing of women began many years ago when working in drug and alcohol services in London and the North East. Women who use drug represent around one third of the treatment population and are at high risk of unplanned pregnancy, STI/ STDs and at an increased risk of violence and trauma. Traditionally, drug and alcohol services are designed to meet the needs of men and are not readily available to support the needs of women, particularly pregnant women. Pregnant women have a higher rate of dropout in treatment than other individuals, placing themselves and their unborn child at risk. During my time as a practitioner, I encountered many women who were pregnant or had children. In many cases their children were not in their care. There were instances were women had consecutive removal of their children after birth, leaving them isolated and in despair with little or no intervention or support. Research has documented that woman who use drugs and are pregnant or parents, are stigmatised and stereotyped and experience guilt and shame relating to their drug use. The experiences of women I met during my time working in drug and alcohol treatment, coupled with previous research, underscore the urgency to improve the unmet reproductive health and social care needs of women who use drugs.

The aim of my research is to explore the unmet reproductive healthcare needs of women who use drugs in the UK. The first phase of the study is a qualitative systematic review, exploring the lived experience of pregnancy amongst women who use illicit drugs.  The second phase is qualitative research project, conducted with female service users and service providers. This research will give an insight into the agency women who use drugs have over their reproductive health and the perspectives service providers have of current provision for this population. It is intended that the outcomes of this research will be used to design an intervention that supports the reproductive health and social care needs of women who use drugs.

Anna Boath, FMS funded PhD student

Anna Boath

I am a third year PhD student funded by FMS, Newcastle University and supervised by Dr Nicola Heslehurst, Prof Luke Vale, Dr Louise Hayes and Dr John Allotey (based at University of Birmingham).

Within the context of my PhD, I research health in pregnancy. Researching women’s health, in particular pregnancy particularly interested me as the health within pregnancy impacts the woman herself and can impact health of the child across their lifespan. Therefore, health throughout pregnancy affects every single person. Research in pregnancy is crucial to provide safe and effective care and treatments for women and their children, with research being carried out in a way that promotes access to all women.  Beyond reproductive health, recent advancements in understanding show sex-based differences in diseases such as cardiovascular disease and obesity. This drives an urgent need to prioritise research into women’s health. My personal interest in women’s health research was particularly sparked by reading both “invisible women” and “sex matters”; books which explore both healthcare and wider societal biases that impact women in every facet of life. Only by understanding and addressing these issues can we move towards a more equitable society.  

My research involves looking at the use of diet and physical activity interventions in pregnancy to help prevent gestational diabetes and reduce gestational weight gain. Gestational diabetes and excessive gestational weight gain are increasing in prevalence worldwide and can have serious implications for both the women and her child. At present, the only measure of body composition used to target women who may benefit from these weight management services is by BMI. BMI has been shown to be a poor tool in targeting women for this extra care. My research aims to assess how targeting women based on alternative measures, such as waist circumference, may be advantageous. Further to this, the cost-effectiveness of targeting these interventions based upon adiposity measures will be assessed. This may assist in policy-setting and health care provision.  

Categories
LGBT+ History Month

LGBT+ History Month

NUPHSI PG Student Georgia Louise Bell

writes on the importance of LGBT+ History Month & Volunteering with ReportOUT.

LGBT+ History Month is an important time, in which we can reflect on the progress that has been made in the fight for LGBT+ equality, how far we still must go, and where in the world LGBT+ communities still need urgent help. We first started celebrating LGBT+ History Month in the UK in 2005.

This year in the UK we will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first official Pride event held in London in July 1972. Pride protests and marches were held before this, but 1972 signifies the founding of London Pride. This is a considerable anniversary to be celebrating, and this LGBT+ History Month we should be looking back at the progress made in these five decades:

  • 1967: homosexuality in the UK was decriminalised five years before the first official pride event, a significant first step in changing social attitudes toward the LGBT+ community.
  • 2001: the homosexual age of consent was reduced from 21 to 18, bringing it in line with the heterosexual age of consent.
  • 2005: same-sex relationships finally gained legal recognition with the introduction of the Civil Partnership Act, followed in 2014 by the right to be married.
  • 2005: transgender people can change their legal gender by acquiring a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), gaining a level of legal recognition not before seen.
  • 2007: discrimination based on sexual orientation is outlawed
  • 2010: the 2010 Equality Act Officially adds gender reassignment to the list of protected characteristics
  • 2017: The Alan Turing Law awarded posthumous pardons to those in England and Wales charged under sodomy laws. In January 2022 it was announced that all same-sex criminal convictions are to be pardoned as part of a new scheme

These are just some of the positive steps made in the UK there are many other more, both large and small that have made the UK a safer and happier place to live for the LGBT+ community. However, there are still great strides to be made.

However, the journey toward equality is not a linear one and during that time the UK also experienced a significant decline. In 1988 the UK government introduced Section 28, a law which prohibited schools and councils from “promoting homosexuality”. This included stepping in when children were homophobically bullied and a complete lack of sex education based around non-heterosexual sex. This was repealed in 2003, but harmed public attitudes toward LGBT+ people and had a lasting impact on those who lived through Section 28 during their school years.

In recent years there has also been a marked increase in anti-trans rhetoric in the UK. This is part of a worrying global trend with the UK being noted by both the Council of Europe and ILGA-Europe as having a particularly sharp rise. This has created an increasingly hostile environment for trans people in the UK who are facing largely negative media attention and restricted access to healthcare. Many LGBT+ organisations and trans activists are attempting to make the application process for a GRC less complicated and more accessible as well as trying to counteract a growing trend of anti-trans rhetoric.

But LGBT+ History Month isn’t just about the UK and the progress it has made; it is also about LGBT+ communities around the world who are also fighting for equality. There are currently 71 countries in which it is illegal to be homosexual. In these countries, punishments can range from fines to prison sentences to the death penalty. LGBT+ people are also subjected to incredible amounts of violence by the public and the police.

Last year I began volunteering with ReportOUT, a global LGBT+ human rights charity based in Gateshead. Their mission is based on three areas: Report (research and documentation), Inform (education) and Defend (campaigns). I personally volunteer as a human rights researcher and have been working on book chapters for ReportOUT’s upcoming book which will give an A to Z of the history and current state of LGBT+ human rights in every country. I got involved with ReportOUT because I am a big believer in queer solidarity and mutual aid, and this has allowed me to put my academic research and writing skills to practical use. Though research into the reality of human rights abuses against LGBT+ communities around the world has been sobering, and at times difficult, I am grateful to be part of an organisation that is helping in the fight for social justice. Doing this research has also made it stark just how precarious the rights that we fight for are, and how easily they can be repealed.

In light of the recent conflict in Ukraine, one of my fellow researchers produced this blog post regarding the risks being posed to LGBT+ people in Ukraine. I highly recommend this post to anyone who wants to gain further context of the risks involved with the Russian aggression in Ukraine and get an idea of the work ReportOUT does.

https://www.reportout.org/post/he-who-licks-knives-will-soon-cut-his-tongue

Georgia is a postgraduate student on our MSc in Public Health and Health Service Research. Georgia volunteers for ReportOUT a global LGBT+ human rights charity based in Gateshead. Links to ReportOUT can be fount below.

ReportOUT
Categories
International day of women and girls in science

International Day of Women and Girls in Science

To achieve full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls, and further achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, the United Nations General Assembly declared 11 February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

In celebration of International Day of Women and Girls in Science 11th February 2022, we asked PHSI colleagues Dr Ryc Aquino, Dr Paula Waterhouse and Prof Suzanne Moffat to answer some questions about their careers in science; memorable moments, role models and much more.

Dr Ryc Aquino

Research Fellow in Prevention, Early Intervention & Behaviour Change

Dr Ryc Aquino (centre) PhD graduation with Dr Ellinor Olander (left) Professor Ros Bryar (right)

How long have you been working in science/ research?   

I’ve been in research for around nine years, which started during my MSc in Clinical and Health Psychology (Manchester). I was a volunteer research assistant for one of my lecturers, where we used existing datasets to explore the impact of insomnia on cognitive function, and undertook an evidence synthesis on the content of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) interventions that have been tested in clinical trials. I did this alongside my dissertation, which explored midwives’ experiences of caring for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic women during pregnancy. While these topics seem dissimilar, all were about understanding people’s health, and the healthcare/treatments that they receive.  

I progressed to a PhD in Health Psychology (City, University of London), focusing on midwives’ and health visitors’ collaborative relationships when providing maternity care. Alongside, I held several part-time research assistant roles, harnessing the skills I gained. A week after I submitted my PhD thesis, I started my first postdoc at the Primary Care Unit (Cambridge). I evaluated a de-funded primary care-based clinical drug trial and led a process evaluation of a primary care-based cluster . Alongside, I was awarded a yearlong fellowship in primary care research (TUTOR-PHC, NIHR SPCR).  

In April 2020, I joined the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria as one of two fellows in Prevention, Early Intervention and Behaviour Change. I continue to be a Visiting Researcher in Cambridge. 

What is the best thing about your research career, and the main challenges?  

Personally, the best thing about a career in science/applied research is being able to contribute to generating knowledge that supports the improvement of healthcare services for everyone. Before Covid, I also really enjoyed travelling to meet and build relationships with the people we worked with – patients, service users, policymakers – which always left me inspired and reenergised. 

In my opinion, one of the main challenges is the precarity of pursuing a research career pathway, which is a high-pressure, competitive environment as you need to demonstrate high levels of productivity consistently, to ensure you continue to be ‘employable’ from one contract to the next. 

What five words sum up your typical day?  

Every day brings different challenges! 

Do you have a female role model that has influenced your decision to work in science?  

I’m fortunate to have been mentored by brilliant women throughout my career. Specifically, Dr Debbie Smith and Professor Dawn Edge, my MSc supervisors who supported me in developing my own research ideas, and showed me that it is possible to pursue a career in science/research. Also, Professor Ros Bryar and Dr Ellinor Olander, my PhD supervisors, who pushed me to go beyond my comfort zone, to think critically and creatively, and to believe in myself. 

I’ve also recently come to discover the inspiring stories of two female scientists. First, Dr Rosalind Franklin, who was a Cambridge-trained chemist, and played a crucial (but less-recognised) role in the discovery of the structure of the DNA through X-ray crystallography. Second, Dr Fe del Mundo, a renowned paediatrician in my home country, the Philippines, who was known for founding the first paediatric hospital in the country, as well as inventing an incubator made of bamboo, used in rural communities without electricity. A bit of personal trivia is that Dr del Mundo was my paediatrician when I was little! Both women were trailblazers, courageously navigating the challenges of a male-dominated industry. It is from them that I draw courage to continue my work and to support other women and underrepresented people in pursuing science/research careers. 

Dr Paula Jane Waterhouse 

Dr Paula Waterhouse

Clinical Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Dentistry 

How long have you been working in science/ research?   

I graduated as a dentist in 1990 and embarked on early clinical postgrad training, rotating through different specialties. In 1991, I was appointed to a junior lecturer post at Newcastle University (School of Dental Sciences). Between 1991 and 1993 I worked towards passing primary and second parts of my Fellowship in Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh alongside treating patients and teaching students. I was awarded the Dean’s Medal for highest marks in the examination. Once FDS RCS was under my belt, I started to think about Higher Specialist Training and a PhD. 

 In 1994, I got married, started my clinical and laboratory based part time, staff PhD, alongside part time clinical training and also teaching undergraduate dental students. My PhD was funded by the British Dental Association’s Shirley Glasstone-Hughes Memorial Prize. Serving so many ‘masters’ was challenging!  

By October 2000 my first child was one year-old, I had successfully defended my PhD and also became eligible for NHS consultant posts in my own specialty. It took me a further seven years to be promoted to Clinical Senior Lecturer and finally take an Honorary Consultant post and by then I was also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (now Advance HE). My research interests, even though I am T and S contractually, include clinically relevant topics (such as dental trauma, enamel erosion and dental pulp), as a clinician I feel strongly that my research should eventually help patients! I was The School’s Research Student Advisor for 7 years.  

Over the last 10 years I have become involved in education research including curriculum design, outreach placement, reflection, feedback, virtual learning and latterly decolonising the dental curriculum.  I remain a Clinical Senior Lecturer, last year I received my 30 years long service award from the University and in 2020 I was awarded ‘Outstanding Contribution to Teaching, FMS’ at The Education Awards. 

What five words sum up your typical day? 

Varied, worthwhile, challenging, collaborating, mentoring 

What is the funniest or most memorable thing that has happened to you while working in science? 

Typing-up my PhD thesis one-handed whilst breastfeeding my firstborn  

Who (or what) has motivated you throughout your research career? 

My child patients, my students and their child patients; children in need of dental treatment deserve evidence-based dental care and my students deserve research-led teaching. My Mum knows how hard I worked to get a place at Dental School; she remains a huge support to this day.   

Prof Suzanne Moffatt

Professor of Social Gerontology 

Dr Suzanne Moffat

How did you get into science/research?  

I was a practicing NHS clinician (speech & language therapist) and saw the need for more research-based practice. This led me to undertaking a PhD and then I decided that I wanted to undertake a career in research. 

How long have you been working in science/ research?  

I started my post doc career in Feb 1990.  I then worked as a fixed term contract research associate until 2008. Following this, was made a lecturer, then senior lecturer, reader and eventually in 2020, Professor.  My career has been broadly as a social scientist in applied health research, but latterly specialised in ageing studies (social gerontology).  In addition to research, I have always undertaken (and loved) teaching.  I was Degree Programme director of the Masters in Public Health for 5-6 years, and since moving onto a permanent contract, I have supervised numerous PhD student.  Being able to combine research and teaching has helped me throughout my career and I have learned tons of things from my students over the years. 

What is it about your research career that gets you out of bed in the morning?   

Never quite knowing what the day ahead will bring and working with colleagues who are generous, interesting, care about making a difference and like to get the (research) job done. 

Who (or what) has motivated you throughout your research career?  

Undertaking research in public health/medical sociology/social gerontology involves a focus on inequality and social justice.  The motivation to identify and tackle inequalities is important, but equally important is to undertake research that can have an impact.  So, I have always looked for opportunities to engage with groups/individuals outside of academia who can ‘translate’ findings in ways that make them accessible to individuals beyond the academy, such as the media, the voluntary and community sector and creative practitioners.  I have learned a great deal from doing so. 

What advice would you give a younger version of yourself?  

Education is a lifelong process – if you feel like you want to undertake more studying yourself, it’s likely that you will find it incredibly rewarding. I did a Masters 11 years after completing my PhD and it was one of the best things I did in my post-doc career and opened up other ways of seeing the world and avenues of work. And … take coffee breaks, lunch breaks and have drinks after work with your colleagues.  

What are the biggest challenges you have faced and how have you overcome them?  

At a personal level, working for 18 years on short term/fixed term contracts was difficult and unsettling at times.  I have to say, that at the end of my career, I find it very depressing that this trend has increased rather than decreased.  In my view, the opportunities for contract researchers to obtain permanent positions, despite doing all the ‘right’ things, is harder than it was when I was in the same position.  Honestly, the way I dealt with this issue was to work part time, but overwork and achieve probably more than would be expected within my contracted working hours.  This is not something I would recommend to anyone else as a strategy, but I think it is something that the insecure working culture encourages, and indeed relies upon.  

Categories
Book Club Holocaust Memorial Day

Book Club: Holocaust Memorial Day

January 27th

Recommended by the Lit & Phil

Annexed

Sharon Dogar | Young Fiction

Everyone knows about Anne Frank, and her life hidden in the secret annexe – or do they?


Peter van Pels and his family are locked away in there with the Franks, and Peter sees it all differently. He’s a boy, and for a boy it’s just not the same. What is it like to be forced into hiding with Anne Frank, to hate her and then find yourself falling in love with her? To know you’re being written about in her diary, day after day? What’s it like to sit and wait and watch whilst others die, and you wish you were fighting?

A delicate, poised and scrupulous re-enactment.

Mal Peet, The Guardian


How can Anne and Peter try to make sense of one of the most devastating episodes in recent history – the holocaust?


Anne’s diary ends on August 4 1944, but Peter’s story takes us on, beyond their betrayal and into the Nazi death camps. He details with accuracy, clarity and compassion, the reality of day to day survival in Auschwitz – and the terrible conclusion.


It’s a story rooted firmly in history and it asks a question of us all: Are we listening?


‘Is anybody there?’ Peter cries from the depths of his despair in the camps. Read it, and you will be.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Heather Morris | Fiction

I tattooed a number on her arm. She tattooed her name on my heart.

In 1942, Lale Sokolov arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau. He was given the job of tattooing the prisoners marked for survival – scratching numbers into his fellow victims’ arms in indelible ink to create what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust. 

A sincere…moving attempt to speak the unspeakable

The Sunday Times

Waiting in line to be tattooed, terrified and shaking, was a young girl. For Lale – a dandy, a jack-the-lad, a bit of a chancer – it was love at first sight. And he was determined not only to survive himself, but to ensure this woman, Gita, did, too.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a very moving book, showing the survival of humanity in a brutal place. I love this story

The Reading Life

So begins one of the most life-affirming, courageous, unforgettable and human stories of the Holocaust: the love story of the tattooist of Auschwitz.

Maus

Art Spiegelman | Graphic Novel

Hailed as the greatest graphic novel of all time.

Maus tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler’s Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father’s story.

The first masterpiece in comic book history.

The New Yorker

Approaching the unspeakable through the diminutive (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), Vladek’s harrowing story of survival is woven into the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father.


Against the backdrop of guilt brought by survival, they stage a normal life of small arguments and unhappy visits, studying the bloody pawprints of history and tracking its meaning for those who come next.

The Holocaust: A New History

Lawrence Reese | Non-fiction

This landmark work answers two of the most fundamental questions in history – how, and why, did the Holocaust happen?

Laurence Rees has spent twenty-five years meeting survivors and perpetrators of the Holocaust. Now, in his magnum opus, he combines their enthralling eyewitness testimony, a large amount of which has never been published before, with the latest academic research to create the first accessible and authoritative account of the Holocaust in more than three decades. 

By far the clearest book ever written about the Holocaust, and also the best at explaining its origins and grotesque mentality, as well as its chaotic development.

Antony Beevor

This is a new history of the Holocaust in three ways. First, and most importantly, Rees has created a gripping narrative that that contains a large amount of testimony that has never been published before. Second, he places this powerful interview material in the context of an examination of the decision making process of the Nazi state, and in the process reveals the series of escalations that cumulatively created the horror. Third, Rees covers all those across Europe who participated in the deaths, and he argues that whilst hatred of the Jews was always at the epicentre of Nazi thinking, what happened cannot be fully understood without considering the murder of the Jews alongside plans to kill millions of non-Jews, including homosexuals, ‘Gypsies’ and the disabled.

Through a chronological, intensely readable narrative, featuring enthralling eyewitness testimony and the latest academic research, this is a compelling new account of the worst crime in history.

Categories
Book Club

Book Club: World Religion Day

January 16th

Recommended by the Lit & Phil

Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms

Gerard Russell | Non-fiction

Despite its reputation for religious intolerance, the Middle East has long sheltered many distinctive and strange faiths: one regards the Greek prophets as incarnations of God, another reveres Lucifer in the form of a peacock, and yet another believes that their followers are reincarnated beings who have existed in various forms for thousands of years. These religions represent the last vestiges of the magnificent civilizations in ancient history: Persia, Babylon, Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs. Their followers have learned how to survive foreign attacks and the perils of assimilation. But today, with the Middle East in turmoil, they face greater challenges than ever before. 

‘A highly topical study of Middle Eastern anomalies which is teaching me a lot, and should be read by all Western policy makers those who do read’ 

Jan Morris, New York Times 

In Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms, former diplomat Gerard Russell ventures to the distant, nearly impassable regions where these mysterious religions still cling to survival. He lives alongside the Mandaeans and Ezidis of Iraq, the Zoroastrians of Iran, the Copts of Egypt, and others. He learns their histories, participates in their rituals, and comes to understand the threats to their communities. Historically a tolerant faith, Islam has, since the early 20th century, witnessed the rise of militant, extremist sects. This development, along with the rippling effects of Western invasion, now pose existential threats to these minority faiths. And as more and more of their youth flee to the West in search of greater freedoms and job prospects, these religions face the dire possibility of extinction. 

Drawing on his extensive travels and archival research, Russell provides an essential record of the past, present, and perilous future of these remarkable religions.

Jerusalem The Biography

Simon Sebag Montefiore | Non-fiction

erusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths; it is the prize of empires, the site of Judgement Day and the battlefield of today’s clash of civilizations. From King David to Barack Obama, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict, this is the epic history of 3,000 years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and coexistence. 

How did this small, remote town become the Holy City, the ‘centre of the world’ and now the key to peace in the Middle East? In a gripping narrative, Simon Sebag Montefiore reveals this ever-changing city in its many incarnations, bringing every epoch and character blazingly to life. Jerusalem’s biography is told through the wars, love affairs and revelations of the men and women – kings, empresses, prophets, poets, saints, conquerors and whores – who created, destroyed, chronicled and believed in Jerusalem.

A fittingly vast and dazzling portrait of Jerusalem, utterly compelling from start to finish

Christopher Hart, The Sunday Times

Drawing on new archives, current scholarship, his own family papers and a lifetime’s study, Montefiore illuminates the essence of sanctity and mysticism, identity and empire in a unique chronicle of the city that many believe will be the setting for the Apocalypse. This is how Jerusalem became Jerusalem, and the only city that exists twice – in heaven and on earth.

A Little History of Religion

Richard Holloway | Non-fiction

“For readers in search of a thoughtful, thorough, and approachable survey of the history of religion, this book is an excellent place to start.”―Booklist
 
Written for those with faith and for those without―and especially for younger readers―A Little History of Religion sweeps us through the story of religion in our world, from the dawn of religious belief to the present.

“A Little History of Religion both delights readers and tackles a subject historically and emotionally wide-ranging. . . . Holloway repeatedly links religious movements to political action, perhaps cautionary tales for our times, and how to seek accurate religious history-a surprisingly superior handbook.”

Katharine C. Black, Anglican and Episcopal History


 
An emphathetic yet discerning guide to the enduring importance of faith, Richard Holloway introduces us to the history and beliefs of the major world religions―Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism. He also explores where religious belief comes from; the search for meaning through the ages; how differences in belief sometimes lead to hostility and violence; what is a sect and what is a cult; and much more. Throughout, Holloway encourages curiosity and tolerance, accentuates nuance and mystery, and calmly restores a sense of the value of faith.

The Mahabharata

Krishna-Dwaipayan Vyasa | Epic

The Mahabharata is an ancient Indian epic where the main story revolves around two branches of a family – the Pandavas and Kauravas – who, in the Kurukshetra War, battle for the throne of Hastinapura. Interwoven into this narrative are several smaller stories about people dead or living, and philosophical discourses.

Krishna-Dwaipayan Vyasa, himself a character in the epic, composed it; as, according to tradition, he dictated the verses and Ganesha wrote them down. At 100,000 verses, it is the longest epic poem ever written, generally thought to have been composed in the 4th century BCE or earlier. The events in the epic play out in the Indian subcontinent and surrounding areas. It was first narrated by a student of Vyasa at a snake-sacrifice of the great-grandson of one of the major characters of the story. Including within it the Bhagavad Gita, the Mahabharata is one of the most important texts of ancient Indian, indeed world, literature.