Quarterly Review of Research - January 2024

Arts and Humanities

• Bridges, Emma (2023). Warriors' Wives: Ancient Greek Myth and Modern Experience. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  Warriors’ Wives: Ancient Greek Myth and Modern Experience compares the representations of soldiers’ wives in ancient Greek epic poetry and tragic drama with the experiences of modern-day military spouses. In examining the figures of Penelope, Clytemnestra, Andromache, and Tecmessa –as represented by Homer and the fifth-century-BCE Athenian tragedians– alongside contemporary evidence for the lives of women who are married to service personnel, it sheds fresh light on the effects of war on those who are left behind. It traces significant aspects of the lives of the women who are married to soldiers from the moment of farewell, through periods of separation and the challenges they bring, to the reunion and in some cases the traumatic aftermath of war. In doing so it considers the ways in which key elements of the experience of the waiting wife are shaped, today just as much as in the ancient world, by expectations about gender roles, and it renders visible the stories of military spouses who have traditionally been given less attention than their serving partners.

• Richardson, Heather (2023). A Dress for Kathleen. Norwich: Story Machine.

  This work of creative nonfiction is a fragmentary celebration of the life of Kathleen Hutchinson. Originally stitched into the fabric of a dress, Kathleen's story is presented here as a book for the first time. In the process, Heather Richardson also tells the stories of Kathleen's parents and their lives together in rural Northern Ireland in the first half of the 20th century.

• Wallis, Robert J. ed. (2023). The Art and Archaeology of Human Engagements with Birds of Prey: From Prehistory to the Present. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

  Of all avian groups, birds of prey have long been a prominent subject of fascination in many human societies. This book demonstrates that the art and materiality of human engagements with raptors has been significant through deep time and across the world, from earliest prehistory to Indigenous thinking in the present day. Drawing on a wide range of global case studies and a plurality of complementary perspectives, it explores the varied and fluid dynamics between humans and birds of prey as evidenced in this diverse art-historical and archaeological record. From their depictions as powerful beings in visual art and their important roles in Indigenous mythologies, to the significance of their body parts as active agents in religious rituals, the intentional deposition of their faunal remains and the display of their preserved bodies in museums, there is no doubt that birds of prey have been figures of great import for the shaping of human society and culture. However, several of the chapters in this volume are particularly concerned with looking beyond the culture–nature dichotomy and human-centred accounts to explore perspectival and other post-humanist thinking on human–raptor ontologies and epistemologies. The contributors recognize that human–raptor relationships are not driven exclusively by human intentionality, and that when these species meet they relate-to and become-with one another. This ‘raptor-with-human’ focused approach allows for a productive reframing of questions about human–raptor interstices, enables fresh thinking about established evidence and offers signposts for present and future intra-actions with birds of prey.

• Lawrence, Paul (2023). A Global History of Crime and Punishment in the Modern Age. In: Emsley, Clive and McDougall, Sara eds. A Global History of Crime and Punishment, Volume 6. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

  The twentieth century witnessed unprecedented shifts in the volume and nature of recorded crime, and a vast expansion of states' efforts to understand, detect and punish criminality. This multi-author volume provides an in-depth exploration of these seismic changes, tracing the evolution of crime and crime-fighting from the early part of the century to the recent past.

• Brown, Richard Danson (2023). Spenser with Bruegel: Authority and Punishment in The Faerie Queene, Book V. Spenser Studies, 38 (In Press).

  This essay reconsiders Spenserian authority through images of punishment, specifically Philips Galle’s engraving of a drawing by Peter Bruegel the Elder, Justicia (1559). Through this troubling visual analogue, I consider Spenser’s thinking about the problematics of punishment in the stories of Malengin and Bon Font. The first part explores the choreography of guile in the Malengin incident, drawing attention to Artegall’s problematic agency and the troubled narration of the shapeshifter’s punishment. With Bon Font, I re-examine the emphasis on spectatorship in the stanzas which frame his punishment, and the constitutive tensions between what we as readers see and how the story is told, with a particular emphasis on deviations in poetic form.

• Clarke, Martin V. (2023). 1780 Collection of Hymns. In: Norris, Clive Murray and Cunningham, Joseph W eds. The Routledge Companion to John Wesley. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 114–125.

  This was the book through which John Wesley exerted the greatest influence during his lifetime and beyond, although almost all the hymns were by his brother Charles. However, John edited and sometimes rewrote them and decided how they were presented. It was his largest hymnal and, in his words, contains ‘all the important truths’ of his faith, illustrating both belief and practice. It set out his key theological insights, especially on these recurrent central themes of divine grace and holiness of life. It was designed and structured as an aid to personal discipleship, offering accessible texts tailored for the challenges of the Christian’s daily life. The Collection was intended mainly for use in private homes and Methodist society meetings, not formal church services. Along with his Journal and other works, it formed an important part in Wesley’s movement’s self-fashioning both within and apart from the Church of England, and corporate hymn-singing helped build up and sustain local Methodist communities; it secured common understandings of the movement’s key beliefs and supported members’ emotional commitment.

Psychology and Counselling

• Di Malta, Gina; Cooper, Mick; Bond, Julian; Raymond-Barker, Brett; Oza, Marsha and Pauli, Regina (2023). The Patient-Perceived Helpfulness of Measures Scale: Development and Validation of a Scale to Assess the Helpfulness of Using Measures in Psychological Treatment. Assessment (Early Access).

  In response to the increase in Routine Outcome Monitoring and Clinical Feedback, the Patient-Perceived Helpfulness of Measures Scale (ppHMS) was developed to assess the helpfulness—as perceived by patients—of using measures in psychological treatment. Study 1: The construct of patient-perceived helpfulness of measures was explored using thematic analysis with 15 patients. Six helpful and three unhelpful themes were identified and informed item development. Study 2: 28 items were formulated and rated by experts. Ten items were taken forward for psychometric shortening in a sample of 76 patients. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) led to an adequately fitting six-item model with excellent internal consistency, and convergence with the Delighted-Terrible single item of product satisfaction and a single item of measure helpfulness. Study 3: In a stratified online sample of 514 U.K. psychotherapy patients, a five-item model constituted the best fit. The final ppHMS had excellent internal consistency (McDonald’s ω = .90), convergent validity with psychotherapy satisfaction (r = .5; p < .001), divergence from social desirability (r = .1), and metric and scalar invariance across measures. Study 4: Analyses were replicated and confirmed in a stratified U.S. sample (n = 602). The ppHMS is a reliable and valid scale that can be used to assess and compare patients’ perceptions of the helpfulness of different measures as part of their psychological treatment.

• Dixon, John; Tredoux, Colin; Durrheim, Kevin; Kerr, Philippa and Gijbertsen, Brice (2023). Ironies of proximity: Intergroup threat and contact avoidance on neighbourhood interface areas. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology [Early Access].

  Research on the dynamics of neighbourhood desegregation and diversity has identified a paradox. On the one hand, such processes may engender positive intergroup contact experiences, improving intergroup attitudes and relations. On the other hand, they may have the opposite effect, exacerbating negative intergroup relations and generating new forms of avoidance and exclusion. The present research explored one aspect of this paradox. Building on a field survey conducted with Indian residents (n = 364) of a suburb of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, we demonstrate how their relative proximity to areas occupied by ‘incoming’ Black African residents has shaped their perceptions of intergroup threat and associated reactions such as contact avoidance, boundary fortification and support for policies resisting desegregation. At the same time, we demonstrate how such effects are moderated by residents' wider experiences of positive interracial contact. In conclusion, we emphasize the need to better integrate psychological work on the contact hypothesis with work in companion disciplines such as urban studies and human geography. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

• Lazard, Lisa; Capdevila, Rose and Turner, Jim (2023). Calling it out? A Q Methodological Study of Sexual Harassment Labelling. Violence Against Women (Early access).

  The public condemnation of high-profile men accused of gendered violence in 2017 resulted in an upsurge of women labelling past experiences as sexual harassment. This study used Q methodology to explore understandings of sexual harassment in the UK. Forty participants sorted 62 statements into quasi-normal grids which were factor analyzed (by person). Eight factors were identified which were titled: Sex Not Sexism, Sexualized Discriminations, Victim Voice, Sameness and Difference, Power/Sex, Repeated Power Abuse, Personal Boundaries, and Masculinity and Heterosexism. Taken together, they signal that feminist efforts to articulate the experience of sexual harassment have gained ground during this period.

• Koeser, Leonardo; Rost, Felicitas; Gabrio, Andrea; Booker, Thomas; Taylor, David; Fonagy, Peter; Goldberg, David; Knapp, Martin and McCrone, Paul (2023). Cost-effectiveness of long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy for treatment-resistant depression: RCT evidence from the Tavistock Adult Depression Study (TADS). Journal of Affective Disorders, 335 pp. 313–321.

  Background: Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) accounts for a large fraction of the burden of depression. The interventions currently used are mostly pharmacological and short-term psychotherapies, but their effectiveness is limited. The Tavistock Adult Depression Study found evidence for the effectiveness of long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy (LTPP) plus treatment as usual (TAU), versus TAU alone, for TRD. Even after a 2-year follow-up, moderate effect sizes were sustained. This study assessed the cost-effectiveness of this LTPP + TAU.

  Methods: We conducted a within-trial economic evaluation using a Bayesian framework.

  Results: Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were 0.16 higher in the LTPP + TAU group compared with TAU. The direct cost of LTPP was £5500, with no substantial compensating savings elsewhere. Overall, average health and social care costs in the LTPP + TAU group were £5000 more than in the TAU group, employment rates were unchanged, and effects on other non-healthcare costs were uncertain. Accordingly, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was ≈£33,000/QALY; the probability that LTPP + TAU was cost-effective at a willingness to pay of £20,000/QALY was 18%.

  Limitations: The sample size of this study was relatively small, and the fraction of missing service-use data was approximately 50 % at all time points. The study was conducted at a single site, potentially reducing generalizability.

  Conclusions Although LTPP + TAU was found to be clinically effective for treating TRD, it was not found to be cost-effective compared with TAU. However, given the sustained effects over the follow-up period it is likely that the time horizon of this study was too short to capture all benefits of LTPP augmentation.

• Xuereb, Sharon (2023). The experience of BAME students on a psychology undergraduate dissertation module. International Journal of E-Learning & Distance Education / Revue internationale du e-learning et la formation à distance, 38(1).

  In higher education in the United Kingdom (UK), students from ethnic minorities get lower grades than White students. This study focused on the experiences of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students completing an undergraduate psychology dissertation module. Self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000) and intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989) underpinned this study. A reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clark, 2006) methodology was used. Eleven BAME students engaged in individual interviews about their lived experience when completing an undergraduate psychology dissertation module. Participants spoke about the following five themes: module content, tutor, project, other students, and ethnicity. Participants who wanted to research ethnicity-focused topics had tutors with insufficient understanding of the topic. When interacting with tutors and peers, participants stopped to consider whether their ethnicity would negatively impact how they were perceived. They reported challenges in understanding the material and engaging in academic discussions, and they spoke about inconsistency amongst tutors. Students discussed how locating the relevant information took up time, which was particularly worrying for students with work or family commitments. These findings indicate that universities should diversify their staff and student pool and ensure students have access to supportive and effective tutors. Students should be sufficiently prepared for the dissertation module, and assessment and marking guidance should be communicated clearly to both tutors and students. Furthermore, module materials should capture achievements of minority populations.

Social Sciences and Global Studies

• Obodai, Jacob; Mohan, Giles and Bhagwat, Shonil (2023). Beyond legislation: Unpacking land access capability in small-scale mining and its intersections with the agriculture sector in sub-Saharan Africa. The Extractive Industries and Society, 16, article no. 101357.

  The relationship between mining and agriculture in Africa is deeply rooted in a complex network of spatial, political, and socio-economic dynamics. In Ghana, for instance, the forest agroecological zone, responsible for 57 % of food crop production, coincides with 61% of mineral-rich areas. This overlap leads to significant implications, such as competition and conflicts over land, as both livelihood activities rely on a finite natural resource: land. To examine land access politics at the intersections of mining and agriculture using Ghana as a case study, we adopt a unique blend of Amartya Sen's capability approach and political ecology approach. Our study draws on secondary information, on-site observations, and primary data acquired from interviews and focus group discussions with stakeholders in both sectors. Through the lens of political ecology, our research highlights the significant powers of state actors, especially in the mining sector, on land access, exacerbating tensions and conflicts among non-state actors like small-scale miners, smallholder farmers, and traditional authorities.

• Bragatti, Milton Carlos and Weiffen, Brigitte (2023). The deterioration of South America’s security architecture: from cooperation to coexistence? International Relations [Early Access].

  South America has made significant strides in regional security cooperation since the 1990s, but more recently the region seems to have entered a process of backsliding from its cooperative achievements and towards mere coexistence. While scholars have studied how regional organisations shape the fundamental institutions of regional international societies as they emerge and evolve, little research has been done on whether a decline in regional organisations can lead to changes in the fundamental institutions of regional international societies. Using a set of indicators for coexistence and cooperative international societies, we analyse whether there is evidence of backsliding from cooperation to coexistence in the region with regard to three different types of security challenges: interstate conflict and militarisation; internal conflict and violence; and extra-regional influences. We argue that a decline in regional organisations exacerbates those challenges, as they are no longer mitigated through institutionalised diplomatic procedures. However, despite the organisational decline, fundamental institutions in South America have so far proven relatively resilient.

• Tremlett, Paul-François; Harvey, Graham; Robertson, David and Cusack, Carole (2023). Study of Religion and The Dawn of Everything. Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religion (JBASR), 25 pp. 86–105.

  The publication of David Graeber and David Wengrow’s The Dawn of Everything in 2021 ignited interest in anarchist legacies across the sciences. Here, Graeber and Wengrow’s attempt to reframe popular historical conceptions of political and economic progress is addressed in relation to religious studies. Drawing from a range of theoretical perspectives and concerns, the four commentaries explore some of the ways in which Graeber and Wengrow’s ideas can enrich the study of religion.

• Drake, Deborah H.; Walters, Reece; Wood, Mark and Koumouris, Greg (2023). Criminology and Propaganda Studies: Charting New Horizons in Criminological Thought. The British Journal of Criminology [Early Access].

  Criminology and propaganda studies have both substantially influenced political, public and commercial thought yet not as a co-ordinated, embedded twine. Propaganda studies identify how narratives are constructed, conveyed and embedded within public and political discourses. To enhance existing debates, this article stirs the criminological cauldron with critical insights from propaganda analyses. Criminology is an evolving crucible, a gravitational black hole that imbues, harnesses and inculcates diverse perspectives in the pursuit of originality, criticality and creativity. By drawing on historical and contemporary propaganda scholarship we aim to enrich criminological theory, policy and practice. Our intention is not to critique, supplant or subvert existing criminological discourse but to invigorate it with the proponents, and prospects of propaganda studies.

• Koch, Steffen; Löhr, Guido and Pinder, Mark (2023). Recent work in the theory of conceptual engineering. Analysis [Early Access].

  In this review, we aim to structure and systematize the rapidly growing literature on theories of conceptual engineering. We map out some of the emerging trends with respect to two core components of any such theory. The first component is a theory of targets, that is, of what conceptual engineers are (or should be) trying to engineer. The second component is a theory of engineering, that is, of how those targets are (or should be) engineered, of which mechanisms and processes are (or should be) used to carry out conceptual engineering. We begin by introducing the core components of the Austerity Framework, before distinguishing two kinds of objections and sketching a variety of theories that have been subsequently developed.

School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences

• Brown, Kerry A.; Bunting, M. Jane; Carvalho, Fabio; de Bello, Francesco; Mander, Luke; Marcisz, Katarzyna; Mottl, Ondrej; Reitalu, Triin and Svenning, Jens‐Christian (2023). Trait‐based approaches as ecological time machines: Developing tools for reconstructing long‐term variation in ecosystems. Functional Ecology [Early Access].

  How will ecosystems respond to rapid changes brought on by climate change? Can ecosystems recover from biodiversity collapse? Answers to these questions depend on the ability to reconstruct past changes in how ecosystems function: their resilience, stability, or resistance to invasion. Variations in ecosystem function in space and time result from the mixture of species present and their characteristics—their functional traits (FTs).

  Using FTs to predict spatial variation in ecosystem properties has proven to be an effective way to determine current effects of environmental change on ecosystem functioning and services. By adding a longer-time dimension to this analysis, we can gain powerful additional insights. In this review, Mander and colleagues develop a framework that explains how to reconstruct ecosystem properties from long-term ecological records, summarising a range of trait-based approaches based on palaeo-data (the remains of plants and animals preserved in sediments, such as bones, pollen grains or shells), and mapping out a research agenda.

• Marino, Alessandra; Franchi, Fulvio; Lebogang, Lesedi; Gomez, Fernando J.; Azua-Bustos, Armando; Cavalazzi, Barbara; Balcha, Ermias; Lynch, Kennda; Bhagwat, Shonil A. and Olsson-Francis, Karen (2023). Ethical considerations for analogue fieldwork in extreme environments. Nature Astronomy, 7(9) pp. 1031–1036.

  Recent social movements have highlighted and challenged enduring colonial influences on contemporary science and knowledge production. Colonial legacies have a direct bearing on power relations and collaborations between academics in the Global North and scholars and communities in the Global South. Astrobiology is one scholarly discipline that often makes use of remote sites in the Global South.

  In this paper, Marino and colleagues examine the ethical implications of carrying out fieldwork that involves accessing and sampling these extreme environments. Experiences of collaborations in these sites have highlighted the importance of co-learning when engaging with diverse communities of scientists and right holders living on and around field sites. We argue that adopting an ethical approach to research in these environments is relevant also to research on other celestial bodies and to the future of space exploration. We propose that understanding space and Earth as interconnected domains, shaped by scientific theories and practices, calls for a new terminology: ‘planetary ethics’, which places attention on this interconnection.

School of Computing and Communications

• Bowers, David S. and Petre, Marian (2023). Developing a Competence Assessment which References a Student Portfolio to a Professional Skills Framework. Interaction Design & Architecture(s) (57), pp. 97–114.

  As many STEM disciplines – including Computing - strive to enhance graduate employability, there has been increasing interest in developing “competency” within curricula. 

  Unfortunately, many educators and academics focus on personal competencies or practical skills, rather than on professional competence, which requires, “the repeated, successful application of technical knowledge and skills, in a real-world context, with a professional manner, over a period of time.”  Despite growing understanding that universities should develop graduates’ professional competence rather than merely personal competencies, there is little guidance on how to measure or assess professional competence.

  This paper distinguishes between different kinds of competency, and applies an approach, developed within the Institute of Coding, to demonstrates how a (computing) student portfolio, compiled during work placement, can be calibrated against an industrial skills framework, SFIA, to deliver an assessment of technical competence for the student, and discusses how the approach might be generalized to other disciplines.

• Kordoni, Anastasia; Gavidia-Calderon, Carlos; Levine, Mark; Bennaceur, Amel and Nuseibeh, Bashar (2023). “Are we in this together?”: embedding social identity detection in drones improves emergency coordination. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, article no. 1146056.

  Autonomous systems, such as drones, are critical for emergency mitigation, management, and recovery. They provide situational awareness and deliver communication services which effectively guide emergency responders’ decision making. This combination of technology and people comprises a socio-technical system. Yet, focusing on the use of drone technology as a solely operational tool, underplays its potential to enhance coordination between the different agents involved in mass emergencies, both human and non-human.

  This paper proposes a new methodological approach that capitalizes on social identity principles to enable this coordination in an evacuation operation. In the proposed approach, an adaptive drone uses sensor data to infer the group membership of the survivors it encounters during the operation. Using linguistic and synthetic data, we show that the identity-adaptive architecture outperformed two non-adaptive architectures in the number of successful evacuations. The identity-adaptive drone can infer which victims are likely to be helped by survivors and where help from emergency teams is needed. This facilitates effective coordination and adaptive performance. This study shows decision-making can be an emergent capacity that arises from the interactions of both human and non-human agents in a socio-technical system.

School of Life, Health and Chemical Sciences

• Jorfi, Samireh; Ansa-Addo, Ephraim Abrokwa; Mariniello, Katia; Warde, Purva; bin Senian, Ahmad Asyraf; Stratton, Dan; Bax, Bridget E.; Levene, Michelle; Lange, Sigrun and Inal, Jameel Malhador (2023). A Coxsackievirus B1-mediated nonlytic Extracellular Vesicle-to-cell mechanism of virus transmission and its possible control through modulation of EV release. Journal of General Virology, 104(9)

  Microvesicles (MVs) are micrometre sized, lipid encapsulated vesicles that are released from all cell types. MVs are important for cell signalling, removal of wastes, and other housekeeping roles as-well-as promoting disease states such as cancer. They contain proteins, receptors and RNA types, reflecting that of the originating cell. Cells infected with coxsackie virus (CVB1) has been shown to produce virus contained within up to 30% of the MVs released. These MVs can bind to multiple cell types through the body by a process known as endocytosis, likened to cells engulphing them.

  This facilitates virus infection throughout the body without stimulating any immune responses as the MVs arise from the body’s own cells, protecting the virus within MVs from the immune system.

  The process of MV genesis is enhanced in virus infected cells, releasing MVs in response to virus induced stress and infection. Furthermore, the fusion of the MV containing virus to uninfected cells can itself stimulate further MV release and may spread the virus further.

  This research demonstrates a novel virus infection model that allows CVB1 to evade host immune and vaccination strategies.

• Laboury, Antoine; Scheyer, Torsten M.; Klein, Nicole; Stubbs, Thomas L. and Fischer, Valentin (2023). High phenotypic plasticity at the dawn of the eosauropterygian radiation. PeerJ, 11, article no. e15776. 

  There are times in Earth’s history when the evolution of life has changed pace. One such time was during the Early and Middle Triassic, between 250 and 230 million years ago. In the aftermath of the largest mass extinction event in Earth’s history, many new animal groups emerged and spread into many niches. One classic example of this was the evolution of marine reptiles in the Triassic. Using fossils from museums across the globe, an international team of researchers from The Open University, Liège, Zurich and Bonn, studied the early evolution of extinct marine reptiles.

  With data and computational analyses, the researchers show that different groups of the predatory sauropterygian marine reptiles evolved distinct characteristics in their body shape, jaws, teeth and limbs. Using ecological principles, this suggests that they divided up food resources in these ancient ecosystems, giving freedom for different groups to diversify.

  Overall, this shows that being adaptable is key for evolutionary success and persistence over large geological timescales.

School of Mathematics and Statistics

• Azzawi, S.; Umerski, A.; Sampaio, L. C.; Bunyaev, S.; Kakazei, G. N. and Atkinson, D. (2023). Synthetic route to low damping in ferromagnetic thin-films. APL Materials, 11(8), article no. 081108.

  Think of a bar magnet. Its magnetic moment is normally static and aligned along some direction of the magnet. However, by stimulating the magnet with say an alternating magnetic field, the magnetic moment can be made to precess (rotate about an axis). When the stimulus is removed the precession will continue but it will start to die away until the moment will again be static. The rate at which the precession dies away is called the "damping", which depends on the material composition of the magnet. Finding magnetic materials with ultra-low damping (where the precession continues for a long time) is crucial for the next generation of many future low energy electronic devices.

  This paper uses two different methods to determine the damping in specialised, nanometer sized, layered structures in an attempt to achieve ultra-low damping. One method is entirely experimental and was conducted by experimentalists based at Universities in Durham, Brazil and Portugal.  The second method is entirely theoretical and was conducted by Andrey Umerski of the Department of Mathematics at the OU.

  The paper shows that the damping can be reduced significantly by choosing specific combinations of layered materials and the impressive agreement between experiment and theory validates both methods and is convincing evidence that the damping has been determined correctly in these structures.

• Garthwaite, Paul H.; Moustafa, Maha W. and Elfadaly, Fadlalla G. (2023). Locally correct confidence intervals for a binomial proportion: A new criteria for an interval estimator. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics (Early access).     

  Well-recommended methods of forming ‘confidence intervals’ for a binomial proportion give interval estimates that do not actually meet the definition of a confidence interval, in that their coverages are sometimes lower than the nominal confidence level. The methods are favoured because their intervals have a shorter average length than the ClopperPearson (gold-standard) method, whose intervals really are confidence intervals. Comparison of such methods is tricky – the best method should perhaps be the one that gives the shortest intervals (on average), but when is the coverage of a method so poor that it should not be classed as a means of forming confidence intervals?

  As the definition of a confidence interval is not being adhered to, another criterion for forming interval estimates for a binomial proportion is needed. In this paper we suggest a new criterion; methods which meet the criterion are said to yield locally correct confidence intervals. We propose a method that yields such intervals and prove that its intervals have a shorter average length than those of any other method that meets the criterion. Compared with the Clopper-Pearson method, the proposed method gives intervals with an appreciably smaller average length. The mid-p method also satisfies the new criterion and has its own optimality property.

School of Physical Sciences

• Allison Andrews, Hugh Dickinson & James P Hague. Rapid prediction of lab-grown tissue properties using deep learning. Physical Biology Vol 20 No 6 066005 (2023)

  The exploitation of machine learning has become widespread in many different fields. In this paper, which resulted from a collaboration between astronomers and physicists in the school of physical sciences, and is work supported by the OU “Open Societal Challenges”, postdoc Allison Andrews proves that machine learning algorithms can predict, with great accuracy how cells and extra-cellular matrices interact. These processes are vital for the self-organisation of tissues. The paper uses mechanobiology from self-organisation of cell-laden hydrogels in 6400 test cases to train a pix2pix deep learning model. Building on a detailed biophysical simulation of the cell-matrix interactions in the hydrogel moulds, the machine learning method is shown to be significantly faster than the biophysical modelling, and therefore this work opens up the potential for very high throughput modelling to occur in pharmaceutical testing and regenerative medicine. This is the first step in a fascinating new area of biophysics and machine learning research being led by Jim and Hugh in SPS.

• Man, Benjamin; Rothery, David A.; Balme, Matthew R.; Conway, Susan J. and Wright, Jack (2023). Widespread small grabens consistent with recent tectonism on Mercury. Nature Geoscience, 16(10) pp. 856–862.     

  Although we all know Mercury as the planet closest to the Sun, and quite a “hot” place, it is in fact a planet that is cooling down. And as it cools it is contracting. This study discovered the geological features that are evidence of this cooling and contracting – vertical faults known as “graben”, which proliferate the surface of Mercury, and seem, in geological terms at least, to have formed relatively recently (in the last few hundred million years). This research undertaken by Ben Mann as part of his OU PhD thesis, exploited the extensive archive of Mercury surface image data obtained by the NASA Messenger mission, which ended its life over 8 years ago. Nevertheless, the OU-led team identified hundred of potential graben on Mercury’s surface, measured their depth and then used these geological features to estimate their age. The mere presence of the graben, and fact that subsequently they have not been “filled in” by material from. Impacts or sweeping of regolith suggest that Mercury is still cooling, and that this colling is triggering tectonic activity. This work received quite some media attention, especially in light of the BepiColumbo mission where ESA plan to orbit Mercury and map its surface in even more detail than NASA - starting 2025.

School of Engineering and Innovation

• Mabon, Leslie; Connor, Ben; Moncaster, Alice; Pearce, Catherine; Pratt, Eleanor; Shih, Wan-Yu; Tsai, Meng-Chin; Vseteckova, Jitka; Waights, Verina and Wolstenholme, Ruth (2023). Nature can cool cities, but proceed with caution. Urban Transformations, 5(1), article no. 11.

  This article considers how increased extreme heat events draw attention to the potential of urgan nature as a heat adaptation strategy for cities.  The article discusses the need for an evidence-driven and cautious approach to heat adaptation through urban greening.  A three-action approach is suggested including enabling dialogue between different sectors with multiple remits, including diverse knowledge systems in planning and governance processes and investing in long-term stewardship for climatological and societal conditions in the future.

Knowledge Media Institute

• Bonnin, Geoffray; Bayer, Vaclav; Fernandez, Miriam; Herodotou, Christothea; Hlosta, Martin and Mulholland, Paul (2023). CERSEI: Cognitive Effort Based Recommender System for Enhancing Inclusiveness. In: Responsive and Sustainable Educational Futures. EC-TEL 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14200, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer, Cham, pp. 692–697.

  Awarding gaps among students from different backgrounds, notably in sociology and learning science, are common. Recent research suggests that utilising Learning Analytics models can narrow these gaps, fostering a more inclusive learning environment. This paper introduces CERSEI, a web-based prototype leveraging two Learning Analytics models: a cognitive effort model and an activity recommender based on it. Previous studies indicate a link between socio-economic status, effort, and motivation where some categories of students might have fewer sources of motivation and exert less effort, or a higher tendency to exert effort on specific activities that are not the most relevant for succeeding. CERSEI enables students to track their effort using the Rating Scale Mental Effort (RSME) scale and receive personalised learning activity recommendations. This approach allows us to gather data on how various student groups exert effort and respond to recommendations, informing the development of improved Learning Analytics models. The goal is to create more inclusive and equitable learning experiences based on these insights.

• Nambanoor Kunnath, Suchetha; Pride, David and Knoth, Petr (2023). Prompting Strategies for Citation Classification. In: Proceedings of the 32nd ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (CIKM '23), Birmingham, United Kingdom, pp. 1127–1137.

  Understanding the author's reasons for citing is vital for applications such as research evaluation, literature discovery, and summarisation. However, until now, AI methods to identify the author’s citation intent required human-annotated datasets, which are labour-intensive to create. The emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, provides a new opportunity for creating high-performing models with little to no training data. This paper is the first comprehensive and systematic evaluation of citation intent classification using the latest strategies utilising LLMs. The authors experiment with several approaches with different types of instruction given to the model, known as prompts. Results show that prompting strategies utilising LLMs are capable of delivering superior performance with a fewer number of training examples compared to the previous state-of-the-art. 

• Middlemiss, Aimee; Boncori, Ilaria; Brewis, Joanna; Davies, Julie and Newton, Victoria (2023). Employment leave for early pregnancy endings: a biopolitical reproductive governance analysis in England and Wales. Gender, Work and Organization, 31(1) pp. 75–91.

  Abstract

  When a pregnancy ends in England and Wales, statutory time away from paid employment is limited to circumstances where there is a live birth or stillbirth. Forms of leave such as Maternity Leave or Paternity Leave depend on parental status derived from the civil registration of a new person or a post-viability stillbirth. Other early pregnancy endings, such as miscarriage or abortion, do not provide specific time off work after pregnancy. This paper uses the concept of reproductive governance to analyse current and shifting biopolitical truth discourses, strategies of intervention, and modes of subjectification around post-pregnancy leave. It shows how different inclusions and exclusions are generated by the classificatory boundaries which act as political technologies in this field. Contributing to an area which is under-researched in the literature, we provide a review of post-pregnancy statutory employment leave entitlements in this context. We then consider proposals for change presented in the United Kingdom political system in relation to more inclusive leave benefits offered by some employers and different pregnancy endings leave offered in other jurisdictions. We argue that current arrangements and proposals do not adequately reflect the complexity and diversity of pregnancy endings. We conclude with a call to policymakers in all contexts to carefully assess the consequences of new ideas around leave for pregnancy endings, and to formulate inclusive and fair proposals for change.

• Floyd, Alan; Baxter, Jacqueline; Morales, Andres and Bari, Rehana (2023). Leading online learning during a pandemic and beyond: Challenges and opportunities for school leaders in England. Educational Management Administration & Leadership (Early Access).

  Abstract

  Emerging work around the globe has identified the impact of closing schools and moving education online during the COVID-19 pandemic has had, especially on children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Whilst research into this area is growing from both students’ and parents’ perspectives, there remains a need to explore how school leaders strategically dealt with these challenging circumstances and, crucially, what can be learned for the future to ensure some of the opportunities that emerged can be harnessed and developed. This article addresses this knowledge gap by drawing on an UKRI-funded mixed-methods study involving an online survey (n = 65) and semi-structured interviews (n = 50) with headteachers in England exploring not only the strategic challenges that school leaders had to overcome but also highlighting the opportunities that have emerged from the crisis that will positively impact on leading online learning in the future. The results from this research have been used to develop a free online professional development course for heads, underpinned by the key findings, which are highlighted at the end of this article.

• Hampton, Sam; Blundel, Richard; Eadson, Will; Northall, Phil and Sugar, Katherine (2023). Crisis and opportunity: Transforming Climate Governance for SMEs. Global Environmental Change, 82, article no. 102707.

  Abstract

  Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are key actors in climate change mitigation and adaptation. Their aggregate emissions are significant, and they are disproportionately affected by climate impacts, including extreme weather events. SMEs also play a vital role in shaping the environmental behaviours of individuals, communities, and other businesses. However, these organisations have been largely neglected by climate policies across all levels of government. A series of global crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, war in Europe and the Middle East, and energy price spikes, have posed an existential threat to millions of SMEs, while also acting as a catalyst for the reconfiguration of the social contract between business, society and the state, both temporary and more long-term. In this article, we make the case for increased focus on the governance of SME decarbonisation to address this turbulent context. We outline key challenges facing public policymakers and other governance actors, compare strategic options, identify evidence gaps that hinder effective interventions, and highlight implications for research. In doing so we set out key elements of a renewed social contract for business, society and state relations.

• Ngoasong, Michael Zush (2023). Women’s Entrepreneurial Journeys in Sub-Saharan Africa. Elgar Impact of Entrepreneurship Research series. Edward Elgar.

  Abstract

  This innovative book traces women’s entrepreneurial journeys in Sub-Saharan Africa, examining the linkages between entrepreneurship, gender and development context. With extensive case studies of women’s experiences across the enterprise life-cycle, it gives new insight into how to support and empower Sub-Saharan African female entrepreneurs.

• Smolović Jones, Sanela (2023). Gaslighting and dispelling: Experiences of NGO workers in navigating gendered corruption. Human Relations, 76(6)

  Abstract

  How does corruption adopt gendered guises and how do women combat it in practice? Theorising from the basis of a 30-month ethnography within a women’s NGO, the article proposes gaslighting as a way of interpreting gendered corruption, due to its elusive but pernicious nature. Gaslighting is posited as the deployment of tactics to make women doubt their sanity and as a means of securing personal advantage. Gaslighting triggers embodied forms of struggle, and the article offers the notion of dispelling as denoting the persistent, patient and reiterative counter-practice of NGO practitioners to assert democratic norms of liberty and equality. The article provides rich empirical insight both into how corruption is enacted through the citing of patriarchal norms and how such norms are contested through the bodies of practitioners. These insights are important at a time when governments globally claim gender equality while undermining it in practice.

• Suhomlinova, Olga; O’Shea, Saoirse Caitlin and Boncori, Ilaria (2023). Rethinking gender diversity: Transgender and gender nonconforming people and gender as constellation. Gender, Work & Organization (Early access).

  Abstract

  In this article, we challenge the mainstream view of gender rooted in binary cisnormativity and suggest that the gender frameworks used to inform organizational research and practice are inadequate with respect to the range of transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) identities. We employ Hacking's “dynamic nominalism” to illustrate how evolving classifications of TGNC people operate as a discriminating factor that threatens their lived experiences. As an alternative to the binary cisnormative metaphor of gender as a spectrum, we adopt a more inclusive metaphor of a gender constellation and sketch out its potential conceptualization that promotes multidimensional, non‐hierarchical, and dynamic approaches to gender diversity.

• Wisniewski, Tomasz Piotr and Lambe, Brendan John (2023). Getting high on the market: Stock price movements, drug abuse, and health implications. Financial Economics Letters (Early access).

  Abstract

  Using an international dataset, this letter finds that high stock returns are associated with increased death rates from drug use disorders. Although the out-of-pocket expenditure on healthcare also rises following a stock market surge, the net effect on life expectancy is significantly negative.

• Kourti, Isidora; Charitaki, Garyfalia and Kypriotaki, Maria (2023). The critical role of personal and professional characteristics on teachers’ efficacy and attitudes towards inclusion: A comparative study between Greece and the UK. Trends in Psychology (Early Access).

  Abstract

  This study explores how self-efficacy responds to the challenges of inclusive education. Focusing particularly on the impact of personal and professional characteristics, the study analyzes correlations between gender, professional experience, and qualifications on teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion and self-efficacy. In order to do so, the study makes comparisons between Greek and British teachers, identifying both similarities and differences when it comes to supporting disabled students in mainstream classrooms. The study concluded that teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs predict their attitudes towards inclusion, and the teachers’ individual characteristics predict their self-efficacy and attitudes towards inclusion. Specially, teachers from Greece and the UK demonstrated statistically significant differences in their attitudes towards inclusion and in their self-efficacy beliefs. Moreover, in the UK and Greece teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs predict their attitudes towards inclusion while the teachers’ individual characteristics predict their attitudes towards inclusion and self-efficacy.

• Giles, Jessica (2023). The Interrelationship between Freedom of Thought Conscience and Religion and The Rule of Law. Journal of Law and Religion, 38(3) (In Press).

  Abstract

  The article explores the connection between the rule of law and the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion from an empirical and theoretical perspective. The author posits that the two are not merely interdependent, but that freedom of thought, conscience, and religion is foundational for embedding the rule of law because a state needs to facilitate freedom of thought, conscience, and religion to encourage the exploration of virtue to inform consensus around society’s common norms. This virtue-building role of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion gives the human right its foundational role for creating the conditions required for embedding the rule of law. This conclusion is drawn from Martin Krygier’s analysis of the sociological conditions necessary to embed the rule of law and a comparison of the worldwide rule of law, religious freedom, and happiness indexes. To support a universal approach to the human right and to underpin the identified essentiality of it, the author proposes a theoretical approach grounded in the theory of common grace; Rowan Williams’s other-regarding communal approach to rights; and the framework for plural living together proposed by Herman Dooyeweerd. The author posits that this approach could be adapted with a plural metanarrative to accommodate dialogue around virtue building and dispute resolution within societies with very different outlooks.

• Yusuf, Fatima; Yousaf, Amna; Ishaque, Maria and Umrani, Waheed Ali (2023). Conceptualising Silence in External Corporate Communication: A Case Study of Pakistan. Journal of Management Inquiry [Early Access].

  Abstract

  Although existing research has extensively explored corporate disclosure, a very little is known about why corporate organisations may remain silent while communicating with their external audiences. This study offers a definition of corporate silence and develops a conceptual framework for the study of silence in the narrative communication of corporate organisations. We develop a typology based on the forms and motivations for corporate silence in written corporate documents. Data was gathered from 26 interviews with senior managers from regulatory bodies, audit firms and listed companies in Pakistan and a grounded theory approach was used for data analysis. We postulate that self-protection from fear and discomfort, cooperation, managerial opportunism, apathy, and resistance are the prime motivators of corporate silence. The analysis also leads to the development of five different forms of silence: (1) defensive; (2) prosocial; (3) opportunistic; (4) authoritative; and (5) counteractive.

Education, Childhood, Youth and Sport

• Saunders, Claire (2023). One writing group’s story: using an ethnographic case study to investigate the writing practices of academics. Studies in Higher Education [Early Access].

  This paper explores the practices of academics writing for publication purposes and addresses the challenge of building sustainable writing cultures in universities. Its ethnographic case study of a writing group in a teaching-focused university demonstrates that writing practices are entwined with wider academic and institutional identities. The paper argues for a methodological shift in how writing initiatives are researched, given that many previous studies focus either on retrospective accounts or analysing correlations between writing groups and productivity. Specifically, the paper argues for a focus on the ongoing process of becoming a writer rather than on the production of writing outputs. It contends that writing groups offer more than simply protected space for writing; they reframe participants’ understandings of themselves and their academic identities and reintegrate research writing with other aspects of their role. This identity work occurs within visible, protected spaces for writing, where participants work both individually and in community, and reflection and dialogue are central. The paper’s findings underpin ongoing work with academic colleagues to support writing development, including the successful ‘Writing Kitchen’ initiative, an online writing group in the Open University’s School of Education, Childhood, Youth and Sport and the author’s co-leadership of an International Collaborative Writing Group initiative for the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

• Burnard, Pam and Cooke, Carolyn (2023). Troubling Terrains of Diffractive Re-readings: Performing Transdisciplinary Re-matterings of Music, Mathematics and Visual Art Materiality. In: Bailey, Annouchka and Chan, JJ eds. Diffracting New Materialisms Emerging Methods in Artistic Research and Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 235 -263.

  In this chapter we offer a diffractive re-reading (Haraway 1997, 2016, Barad, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2019) as a type of transdisciplinary creativity that radically re-situates, and indeed deconstructs, forms of new knowing, re-seeing and re-doing, that extend the interconnectedness of artistic practice and artistic research. We engage with speculative musings on acts of jazz performance by Miles Davis as he diffracts the same musical material for different potentialities. We also muse on the productive promise of co-creative diffractive re-readings of MathArt Works by young South Africans (Burnard et al., 2020), challenging the subject–object divide of mathematics and visual art. In our diffractive re-reading we put to work French philosopher Catherine Malabou’s concept of ‘plasticity’, which she describes as referring to “the spontaneous organisation of fragments” (Malabou, 2010, p. 7). This spontaneity of networks, collaborations and elements helps us rethink the relationality of different disciplines as boundary crossings, and what this means for transgressing disciplinary boundaries and the capacity of those boundaries to take and give new forms or collaborations with the non-dichotomous doings of artist and researcher.

  This chapter is part of a series of writings around transdisciplinarity, STEAM education, the Arts in education and posthumanist thinking (particularly around ‘making-with’ and ‘thing-power’). For our wider writings see Burnard; Colucci-Gray and Cooke (2022) Transdisciplinarity: Re-Visioning How Sciences and Arts Together Can Enact Democratizing Creative Educational Experiences and Cooke; Colucci-Gray and Burnard (2023) Sensing bodies: Transdisciplinary enactments of ‘thing-power’ and ‘making-with’ for educational future-making.

• Gunter, Anthony (2023). Crime as Disease Contagion and Control: The Public Health Perspective and Implications for Black and Other Ethnic Minority Communities. In: Ellis, Adam; Marques, Olga and Gunter, Anthony eds. Thug Criminology: A Call to Action. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 167–184.

  During the past decade, much of Anthony’s work has focussed on youth violence prevention practice and policing; specifically in relation to problematic [and counter-productive] official policy developments and policing practices that attempt to respond to the issue of serious youth violence/knife crime in London and other localities across England. Within this chapter, Anthony outlines how in response to England’s ‘violent crime epidemic’ there is now a great upsurge of media-driven political interest in this perspective – specifically, the Violence Reduction Unit of Police Scotland. It maintains that the public health approach fails to resolve fundamental questions about structural inequality, the criminalisation process and state racism. Moreover, instead of being a panacea, the chapter concludes by asserting that the crime as contagious virus perspective runs the risk of further stigmatising already problematised and disproportionately criminalised Black and minority communities.

• Agbaire, Jennifer Jomafuvwe and Dunne, Máiréad (2023). Nigerian Higher Education Catchment Policy: Exclusions and the Absent Presence of Ethnicity. Higher Education Policy [Early Access]. 

  With a population of almost 200 million people belonging to over 250 identified ethnic groups and speaking over 500 indigenous languages, Nigeria represents a rich variety of cultural values and religious beliefs. However, representation in higher education is a significant source of inter-group discords and tensions across the country. Increased school participation over the last decades is resulting in explosive numbers of young people ready for higher education but university access is excessively poor with less than a quarter of eligible applicants gaining a place yearly. Universities established by the central government are typically more sought-after, often massively oversubscribed and continue to be sites of struggle for equitable admissions within a wider context of profound social and structural inequalities among indigenous population groups. A significant government response has been a national quota-based admissions policy with three overlapping eligibility criteria - academic merit, catchment area and educationally-less-developed states.

  This paper focuses on the catchment criterion which assigns eligibility on the basis of ‘local indigeneity’, rather than ‘local residency’ - that is, Nigerians who are not originally from designated localities near a university location are not eligible through the quota even if they resided in the area. The paper draws on the lived experiences of applicants and students as well as the accounts of university staff to examine the ways that multiple levels of inequalities and exclusion are profoundly reproduced through the catchment policy criterion, and to propose effective policy reform pathways. It emerged from a wider qualitative study conducted by the lead author, Jennifer Agbaire, on the layered processes of university application in Nigeria and the intersecting manifestations of each of the national admission policy criteria along the lines of gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status. The study sits within the larger body of work of the co-authors who together have been researching social identities, inclusion and justice in education for over three decades.

Health, Wellbeing and Social Care

• Ryan-Blackwell, Gemma (2023). Achieving shared values: a mixed methods study and multi-method model of how to effectively educate nurses about e-professionalism. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 13(12) pp. 47–58.

  Abstract

  Background and objective: Professional socialisation is the method by which nurses become ‘professionals’, demonstrating the values and behaviours accepted by the profession in both the online (e-professionalism) and offline environment. Understanding the concept of e-professionalism and the values associated with online behaviours is an important component of professional practice. This mixed methods project explored nurse’s perspectives about what is acceptable to do on social media and used an evidence-based decision-making tool (A2A) to assess perspectives about whether behaviours in social media are professional or unprofessional is reliable and valid for use in nurse education.

  Methods: Quantitative data was gathered for a series of five vignettes nurses were required to use the A2A tool to score each on the basis of professionalism. To assess the reliability and validity of the tool, participants were asked to complete this task on two occasions n = 122 nurses completed the initial survey and n = 48 repeated the survey. Following this, qualitative data were gathered via focus groups to explore the reasons why consensus could not be achieved.

  Results: Findings show that, even with a structured tool there are still variations in what is and is not deemed to be professional behaviour. There was limited reliability and validity for individual use of the tool, but clinical staff found it useful and relevant to practice. Focus groups (three, n = 8) then explored the concept of e-professionalism further to establish the reasons why consensus is not achieved despite the presence of a structured tool. Two main themes were found 1) the role of values in achieving consensus and 2) the role of tools in achieving consensus and in nurse education. The complex interdependence of personal-social-professional values (competing or complementary) were found to be a significant reason why consensus about acceptable online behaviours was not achieved by using the structured tool.

  Conclusions: A multi-method model to approach nurse education is proposed. It uses a combination of tools and approaches to explore the personal-social-professional domains, navigate competing values and teach practical skills for effective use of social media platforms.

• Hoggart, Lesley; Purcell, Carrie; Bloomer, Fiona; Newton, Victoria and Oluseye, Ayomide (2023). Social connectedness and supported self-management of early medication abortion in the UK: experiences from the COVID-19 pandemic and learning for the future. Culture, Health & Sexuality (Early access).

  Abstract

  Medication abortion has been established globally as safe and effective. This modality has increased accessibility and the opportunity to centre individual autonomy at the heart of abortion care, by facilitating self-managed abortion. Previous research has shown how self-managed abortion is beneficial in myriad settings ranging from problematic to (relatively) unproblematic contexts of access. In this paper we explore the relationship between self-management and sources of support (including health professionals, family, and friends); as well as considering issues of reproductive control and autonomy. Drawing on qualitative, experience-centred interviews, we utilise the concept of social connectedness to examine how supported self-managed abortion was experienced in the United Kingdom during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, self-management was welcomed, with participants speaking positively about managing their own abortion at home. However, a sense of connectedness was crucial in helping participants deal with difficult experiences; and functioned to support individual autonomy in self-care. This paper is the first to examine factors of connection, support, and isolation, as experienced by those undergoing self-managed abortion in the UK in detail. Our research suggests a continued need to advocate for high quality support for self-managed abortion, as well as for choice of abortion method, to support patient-centred care.

• Carruthers, Helen; Derry, David and Astin, Felicity (2023). Becoming partners in rehabilitation with patients in intensive care: physiotherapists’ perspectives. Disability and Rehabilitation (Early access).

  Abstract

  Person-centred care is widely accepted as being central to high quality care, but little is known about how physiotherapists implement person centred rehabilitation in Intensive Care. This study explores the self-reported experiences and interpretations of physiotherapists delivering person-centred rehabilitation in this setting. Methods: A qualitative study using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis explored the lived experiences of physiotherapists and students who have worked in Intensive Care. Three focus groups, with four participants in each, were conducted. Data were fully transcribed, analysed and managed using NVivo software. Results: Participants shared similar interpretations about the principles of person-centred care. Operationalising person-centred rehabilitation during early recovery was not easily achievable. As the person’s clinical condition improved, participants moved away from routine physiotherapy and their practice became more person-centred through the development of a partnership. Participants connected as humans to understand the person and respond to their needs within a culture that valued person-centred care. Conclusions: Physiotherapists aspire to develop a partnership with their patients by connecting on a human level with them and addressing their biopsychosocial needs. Physiotherapists with experience of developing patient partnerships influence the culture of the Intensive Care team and are role-models to facilitate collaborative person-centred activity in others.

• Jones, Kerry; Draper, Janet and Bolton, Nerys (2023). Nursing students experiences of end-of-life care. International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 29(10) pp. 466–475.

  Background: Undergraduate nursing students spend a significant amount of time in clinical placements where they are involved in care at the end of a person's life and care after death. While their role is to provide compassionate care, some students feel wholly unprepared.

  Aims: The aim of this qualitative study was to explore student nurses’ experiences of care in death, dying and post death care, and to explore how students can be better prepared to provide such care.

  Methods: This is a qualitative descriptive study that is concerned with the subjective reality of participant's experiences.

  Findings: Six themes were developed from the analysis: first encounters with death and dying; preparedness; mentoring and support received; the caring role; striving to cope; working with families and working through COVID-19.

  Conclusion: Students described their experience of placements in end-of-life care as challenging yet were also able to adopt ways to develop as compassionate practitioners.

Languages and Applied Linguistics

• Pacini, Adele and Shrestha, Prithvi (2023). Adapting western psychological interventions for children and adolescents in LMICs: lessons from Nepal. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry [Early Access].

  Nepal is a low-middle income country which is considered to be a collectivist culture and has a significant mental health treatment gap for young people. The dominant approach in the global mental health literature has been to import western treatments with varying degrees of cultural adaptation. We argue that this approach is at best cost-ineffective, and at worst harmful, particularly where young people receive interventions outside of their community. The existing literature suggests that the type of intervention delivered, is of less importance than the situating of it within a young person's community, and that leveraging existing cultural resources for resilience within a community, may ultimately be of more benefit than the translating and delivering western ones.

• Pan, Lin and Seargeant, Philip (2023). China English and Chinese culture: A student and teacher perspective. English Today, 39(3) pp. 174–177.

  In his short list of predictions for the future of English, written in 2006, David Graddol wrote that ‘Asia may determine the future of global English’. India and China especially, he suggested, were likely to be the major influences on how the concept of English as a global language would develop. As Asian economies grew, so did their political status, potentially offering a different model for the global ecology of languages. Nearly two decades on, we are beginning to see notable shifts in the way English is perceived in different parts of the world. As a variety in an Expanding Circle country, English in China has conventionally been seen as a foreign or international language, and the concept of an indigenized variety has received less discussion than it has in Outer Circle countries. But with shifts in geopolitics, the conventional rationales for naming practices around English in China may no longer be applicable. The discussion below is centred, therefore, around the issue of what might be a better term to capture the contemporary reality of English use, and attitudes to this use, in China; and on how an emergent variety, associated with the term China English, is becoming a more and more accepted part of linguistic culture in Chinese society.

• Shi, Lijing and Kan, Qian (2023). Bridging the gap between research and pedagogy: an introduction. Journal of China Computer-Assisted Language Learning [Early Access].

  In the last twenty years or so, we have seen the rapid worldwide development of teaching Chinese as a foreign language (CFL), with CFL establishing itself as an important branch of language education. Parallel to this development is the accelerating advancement of digital technology and how it influences our lives and society, including language education. ChatGPT has become the latest technological development arousing teachers’ excitement as well as anxiety. Language educators cannot help but (re-)think that their relationship with technology is now at a critical point. How can language educators take charge of the development, engage with emerging digital technologies and prepare for the future, cognisant of the pace of technological development? Against the backdrop of the rapid development of CFL and technology advancement, this special issue addresses the above questions, exploring and showcasing innovative approaches, research findings, and practical applications in the field of technology-enhanced teaching of CFL.

• Pérez Cavana, Maria Luisa (2023). My foreign body: exploring lived experiences of speaking a foreign language. Language and Intercultural Communication [Early Access].

  The significance of the body in learning and speaking a foreign language is an under-researched topic in a field characterized by a strong focus on cognition and sociolinguistics. This paper is designed to contribute to a newly emerging line of inquiry addressing the move away from the pure linguistic approach towards a more humanistic perspective. Within this context, phenomenology has been considered both as a relevant and as an under-researched approach. This article contributes to the current research on foreign languages studies by expanding our understanding of what it means to speak a language as experienced in the body.

• Ameloot, Elise; Rotsaert, Thijs; Ameloot, Thomas; Rienties, Bart and Schellens, Tammy (2023). Supporting students’ basic psychological needs and satisfaction in a blended learning environment through learning analytics. Computers & Education (Early access).

  In designing a blended learning environment (BLE), a key challenge is to ensure students have a motivating and satisfactory learning experience in both online and face-to-face components. This study addresses this challenge by investigating the impact of using learning analytics (LA) to support students' autonomy and competence needs within a BLE context. Specifically, it examines the effect of teachers sharing LA reports with students on their basic psychological needs and satisfaction in a blended university-based teacher education course. The quasi-experimental study employed a mixed-method approach and spanned two months (N = 348). In the experimental condition, teachers provide specific LA information to students and adjust face-to-face instruction accordingly, while the control group does not receive these adaptations. The findings show that students are generally satisfied with the adapted learning environment, recognizing the value of teachers' LA-based adaptations. Results regarding students' basic psychological needs vary depending on the face-to-face workshop subject. This study contributes to the existing literature by highlighting how teachers' LA-based adaptations positively influence students' satisfaction with the learning environment, fulfilling their psychological needs. It underscores the significance of thoughtful BLE course design and provides recommendations for effective LA utilization in university settings. Based on the findings, several recommendations emerge. Data collection should prioritize group-level anonymity to ensure privacy. Digital learning platforms should provide clear and concise data visualizations to facilitate effective communication between teachers and students. Teachers should leverage LA insights to adapt face-to-face activities in the BLE. Clear guidance should be available to support teachers in utilizing LA effectively.

• Whitelock, Denise (2023). Open and online learning: opportunities and challenges. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning, 38(4) pp. 297–300

  There has been over 20 years of research into Open Learning using Open Educational Resources (OERs). This term was first introduced at the 2002 UNESCO Forum on OpenCourseWare. However, the most recent (Citation2019) UNESCO definition of OERs describes them as ‘teaching, learning and research materials that make use of appropriate tools, such as open licensing, to permit their free reuse, continuous improvement, and repurposing by others for educational purposes’ (Miao et al., Citation2019). As the movement has grown within a framework of Open Practice (Weller et al., Citation2018), the main driver has been digitalisation together with the disruption caused by COVID-19. A more recent comprehensive guide by Farrell et al. (Citation2021) addresses many practitioners’ concerns about using creative commons licences together with finding and selecting OERs.

  There are still policy issues to be addressed together with ethical issues which often rest within the rights argument; the success of which has been to persuade both individuals and organisations that knowledge is a public good and to publish OERs. There is also a research agenda to be pursued which continues to include ethics, quality and open pedagogy, notwithstanding the transient economic resources available for research.

• Aristeidou, Maria and Aristidou, Angela (2023). Research disruption during PhD studies and its impact on mental health: Implications for research and university policy. PLoS ONE, 18(10), article no. e0291555

  Research policy observers are increasingly concerned about the impact of the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic on university research. Yet we know little about the effect of this disruption, specifically on PhD students, their mental health, and their research progress. This study drew from survey responses of UK PhD students during the Covid-19 pandemic. We explored evidence of depression and coping behaviour (N = 1780), and assessed factors relating to demographics, PhD characteristics, Covid-19-associated personal circumstances, and significant life events that could explain PhD student depression during the research disruption (N = 1433). The majority of the study population (86%) reported a negative effect on their research progress during the pandemic. Results based on eight mental health symptoms (PHQ-8) showed that three in four PhD students experienced significant depression. Live-in children and lack of funding were among the most significant factors associated with developing depression. Engaging in approach coping behaviours (i.e., those alleviating the problem directly) related to lower levels of depression. By assessing the impact of research disruption on the UK PhD researcher community, our findings indicate policies to manage short-term risks but also build resilience in academic communities against current and future disruptions.

• Tlili, Ahmed; Garzón, Juan; Salha, Soheil; Huang, Ronghuai; Xu, Ling; Burgos, Daniel; Denden, Mouna; Farrell, Orna; Farrow, Robert; Bozkurt, Aras; Amiel, Tel; McGreal, Rory; López-Serrano, Aída and Wiley, David (2023). Are open educational resources (OER) and practices (OEP) effective in improving learning achievement? A meta-analysis and research synthesis. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 20, article no. 54.

  While several studies have investigated the various effects of open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices (OEP), few have focused on its connection to learning achievement. The related scientific literature is divided about the effects of OER and OEP with regards to their contribution to learning achievement. To address this tension, a meta-analysis and research synthesis of 25 studies (N = 119,840 participants) was conducted to quantitatively investigate the effects of OER and OEP on students’ learning achievement. The analysis included course subject, level of education, intervention duration, sample size, geographical distribution, and research design as moderating variables of the obtained effects. The findings revealed that OER and OEP have a significant yet negligible (g = 0.07, p < 0.001) effect. Additionally, the analysis found that the obtained effect can be moderated by several variables, including course subject, level of education and geographical distribution. The study findings can help various stakeholders (e.g., educators, instructional designers or policy makers) in understanding what might hinder OER and OEP effect on learning achievement, hence accommodating better learning outcomes and more effective interventions.

• Suzuki, Yuko; Wild, Fridolin and Scanlon, Eileen (2023). Measuring cognitive load in augmented reality with physiological methods: A systematic review. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning [Early Access].

  Background: Cognitive load during AR use has been measured conventionally by performance tests and subjective rating. With the growing interest in physiological measurement using non‐invasive biometric sensors, unbiased real‐time detection of cognitive load in AR is expected. However, a range of sensors and parameters are used in various subject fields, and reported results are fragmented.

  Objectives: The aim of this review is to analyse systematically how physiological methods have been used to measure cognitive load and what the implications are for the future research on AR‐based tools.

  Methods: This paper took the systematic review approach. Through screening with 10 exclusion criteria, 23 studies, that contain 3 key elements: AR‐based intervention, cognitive state examination and physiological methods, were identified, analysed and synthesised. Results: Physiological methods in their current form require reference to provide meaningful interpretations and suggestions. Therefore, they are often combined with conventional methods. Many studies investigate the effect of wearable devices in comparison with non‐AR stimuli, which has been controversial, but detection of different causes of cognitive load are on the horizon. Eye‐tracking is the method most used and most consistent in the use of its parameters.

  Conclusions: A multi‐method approach combining two or more evaluation instruments is essential for the validation of users' cognitive state. In addition to the AR stimuli in question, having another independent variable such as task difficulty in experiment design is useful. Statistical approaches with more data input could help establish a reliable scale. The future research should attempt to dissociate cognitive load caused by different effects such as device, instruction, and other AR techniques as well as intrinsic and extraneous aspects, in a better experimental setup with multiple parameters.

• Rizvi, Saman; Rienties, Bart; Rogaten, Jekaterina and Kizilcec, René F. (2023). Are MOOC learning designs culturally inclusive (enough)? Journal of Computer Assisted Learning [Early Access].

  Background: Extensive research on massive open online courses (MOOCs) has focused on analysing learners' behavioural trace data to understand navigation and activity patterns, which are known to vary systematically across geo-cultural contexts. However, the perception of learners regarding the role of different learning design elements in sustaining their engagement in the course is still unclear.

  Objectives: This study aimed to examine learners' perception of learning design elements in MOOCs and explore the ways in which these perceptions differ between geo-cultural contexts.

  Methods: We conducted interviews with 22 learners from seven geo-cultural regions to gather insights into their learning design preferences.

  Results: Our findings indicate that learners from regions such as South Asia exhibit a strong inclination towards video-based content and a lesser preference for reading textual resources. In contrast, learners from regions such as Anglo-Saxon demonstrate a high preference for reading texts such as articles and video transcripts.

  Conclusion: The observed variations in self-reported interests in various learning design elements raise intriguing questions about the nature and extent of participation of various geo-cultural groups. This study underscores the need to develop inclusive MOOC designs and implement learning analytics approaches that adapt to the cultural preferences of learners.

• Aristeidou, Maria; Cross, Simon; Rossade, Klaus-Dieter; Wood, Carlton; Rees, Terri and Paci, Patrizia (2023). Online exams in higher education: Exploring distance learning students' acceptance and satisfaction. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning [Early Access].

  Background: Research into online exams in higher education has grown significantly, especially as they became common practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, previous studies focused on understanding individual factors that relate to students' dispositions towards online exams in ‘traditional’ universities. Moreover, there is little knowledge on university distance learning students' experience of transitioning from in-person to online exams.

  Objectives: This study investigates the acceptance and satisfaction of university distance learning students in their transitioning from in-person to online exams, through multiple factors.

  Methods: We employed a mixed-methods study to understand the relationship between assessment and online exam factors (e.g., revision and online exam satisfaction, assessment competencies, invigilation acceptance, exam anxiety and workspace satisfaction). Cluster analysis and interview data contributed to our understanding of students who are ‘strongly positive’ and ‘less positive’ towards online exams.

  Results and Conclusions: Our findings highlight the overall importance of increasing student confidence by building their assessment competencies throughout their studies and familiarising them early with the technologies and formats to be used in the actual exam. We also shed light on particular student characteristics that relate to reduced online exam acceptance, such as students with disabilities, caring responsibilities and mental health issues, or students who lack access to the necessary technology.

  Implications: The findings and recommendations of this research contribute to the wider agenda of designing fair and trustworthy online assessment, including exams, for the future.

• Atenas, Javiera; Havemann, Leo; Rodés, Virginia and Podetti, Manuel (2023). Critical data literacy in praxis: An open education approach for academic development. Edutec. Revista Electrónica de Tecnología Educativa(85) pp. 49–67.

  This paper reports the pedagogical approach and outcomes of a series of academic development programmes organised between 2016 and 2022 in different countries, which are grounded in the ethos of open educational practices, critical thinking, citizenship and pedagogy as well as ideas around social justice, data justice and data ethics using Open Data as open educational resources, to enable critical reflections and practical exercises with academics from different regions. Our recommendations and conclusions provide practical advice promoting a dialogue between different stakeholders to facilitate the development of curricula, workshops and resources using an open model for academic development.

• Rienties, Bart; Divjak, Blazenka; Iniesto, Francisco; Pazur Anicic, Katarina and Zizak, Mirza (2023). Online work-based learning: a systematic literature review. International Review of Education, 69 pp. 551–570.

  It is widely acknowledged that graduates need to develop skills and competences beyond the theoretical knowledge nurtured within higher education curricula. In the last twenty years there has been an increased interest in supporting learners with work-based learning (WBL) (e.g. apprenticeships, practice-based lab sessions, project-based learning). The experience of COVID-19-related lockdowns has ignited a push to support and provide these opportunities for skills development online. In this systematic literature review, the authors explored (1) which innovative technologies and online WBL typologies are implemented in online WBL in higher education; and (2) to what extent there is evidence that online WBL is effective. From an initial pool of 269 studies identified from two datasets, the authors selected thirteen studies which implemented and evaluated online WBL. In total, 1,015 respondents were included in these studies (M = 84.58, SD = 118.28, range: 7–390). The authors’ findings indicate that most studies used descriptive, qualitative approaches to explore the lived experiences of participants, mostly from Australia. Substantial differences were found in the designs of online WBL practices and technologies, although there was limited robust evidence of effectiveness due to a lack of evidence-based evaluation approaches. The authors encourage WBL researchers to be more precise in their design parameters of online WBL, and to consider (quasi)experimental designs to measure the impact of their approaches.

• Tegama, Natalie (2023). Racialised capitalism, decoloniality and the university: an exploration of the colour line and colonial unreason in higher education. Frontiers in Sociology, 8, article no. 979579.

  Over the last decade, there has been an increase in calls to address important questions on race and decolonisation within the university, administratively, pedagogically, and socially. This study investigates the relationship between the university, the coloniser, and the colonised during the colonial era and the afterlife. It aims to demonstrate that the university has made the act of abstraction and theorisation central across disciplines in a way that shears theoretical principles from the historical contexts they emerge from, distancing them from the purposes, people, and interests they were meant to serve, as well as the populations they were meant to dispossess and disempower. The study provides a conceptual framework for deconstructive analysis of the university’s pedagogical operations and societal function with the view to elucidate the university’s colonial and racial blind spots, notably, with a reliance on disciplinary narratives from development, international relations, and international law to offer tentative answers to the questions of decolonial praxis, the decolonial scholar, and coloniality in the contemporary university.

• Ferguson, Rebecca; Khosravi, Hassan; Kovanović, Vitomir; Viberg, Olga; Aggarwal, Ashish; Brinkhuis, Mattheiu; Buckingham Shum, Simon; Chen, Lujie Karen; Drachsler, Hendrik; Guerrero, Valerie A; Hanses, Michael; Hayward, Caitlin; Hicks, Ben; Jivet, Ioana; Kitto, Kirsty; Kizilcec, René; Lodge, Jason M; Manly, Catherine A; Matz, Rebecca L; Meaney, Michael J; Ochoa, Xavier; Schuetze, Brendan A; Spruit, Marco; van Haastrecht, Max; van Leeuwen, Anouschka; van Rijn, Lars; Tsai, Yi-Shan; Weidlich, Joshua; Williamson, Kimberly and Yan, Veronica X (2023). Aligning the Goals of Learning Analytics with its Research Scholarship: An Open Peer Commentary Approach. Journal of Learning Analytics, 10(2) pp. 14–50.

  To promote cross-community dialogue on matters of significance within the field of learning analytics], we as editors-in- chief of the Journal of Learning Analytics have introduced a section for papers that are open to peer commentary. The first of these papers, “A LAK of Direction: Misalignment Between the Goals of Learning Analytics and its Research Scholarship” by Motz et al. (2023), appeared in the journal’s early access section in March 2023, a few days before the start of the 13th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference (LAK ’23). “A LAK of Direction” takes as its starting point the definition of learning analytics used in the call for papers of the first LAK conference (LAK ’11) and used since then by the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR): “Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs” (Long & Siemens, 2011, p. 24). Following the conference, an invitation to submit proposals for commentaries on the paper was released, and 12 of these proposals were accepted. This paper brings those commentaries together