ESRC Virtual Festival – Museum without Walls: Access for All…

Equal access to cultural venues such as museums, heritage centres and arts galleries for people with disabilities has been declared a human right, and is being addressed across the world as venues endeavour to ensure equal access for visitors with varying abilities. A three-year research project at Queen’s, in collaboration with Titanic Belfast and Royal National Institute of Blind People is investigating innovative access options for the blind and partially sighted (BPS), using new technologies within diverse museum environments. I …

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ESRC Virtual Festival – The social power of language: mansplaining…

The neologism “mansplaining” generally describes a sexist behaviour whereby a man explains something to a woman in a patronising way, something which she already knows. The term was coined over a decade ago and since then it has sparked numerous debates about what is and what isn’t mansplaining. Some forms of sexist behaviour are relatively clear to spot and call out, like gendered adverts featuring women using cleaning products or cooking for their families, or institutionalised forms of sexism whereby …

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ESRC Virtual Festival – Difficult conversations: when complaint communication falls short of patient expectations…

Catrin S Rhys (Ulster University), Bethan Benwell (Stirling University) & Jack B. Joyce (Ulster University) Real Complaints: www.realcomplaints.org In 2019/20, HSC Trusts in Northern Ireland received a total of 4,370 complaints, relating to 6,105 complaint issues. This equates to 84 complaints per week or approximately 12 complaints per day. Complaints about healthcare can be a positive; they can resolve problems for patients in the short term and in the longer term, they can help to improve services for other patients. …

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What does behavioural science have to do with safe water interventions?

Over half of the world’s population lack safely managed sanitation services, while at least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with faeces (WHO, 2017). This causes diarrhoeal disease which is responsible for the death of around half a million children under the age of 5 each year (WHO, 2017). Without the adequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) conditions in place, risks of contamination are everywhere, and practices that pose a risk to health become highly prevalent. Examples …

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