In a recent report, the Committee on Fuel Poverty highlighted that progress on fuel poverty in England is stalling. On Fuel Poverty Awareness Day, Caitlin Robinson, Lecturer in Geography, reflects on reasons for this lack of progress and envisions a more ambitious approach to tackling fuel poverty. There is no typical profile of a fuel […]
Understanding the impact of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases on work
Dr Suzan Verstappen has blogged for us on the impact of Rheumatoid and Musculoskeletal Disease (RMD) on the workforce. Here, she outlines how her research, in association with a number of national research projects, aims to furnish the evidence base by which the extent of the RMD challenge to both workforce health and workplace design […]
Breaking the silence: The importance of student involvement in school mental health
Hardly a day passes when adolescent mental health is not in the news. Dr Cathy Atkinson, Senior Lecturer in Education and Child Psychology at the Manchester Institute of Education, and Lucy Wilkinson, sixth-form student at Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, discuss their research into student-led mental health initiatives at AGGS, and suggest that this approach […]
Action on youth loneliness
In this year’s Children’s Mental Health Week, Pamela Qualter, Professor of Education at the Manchester Institute of Education and principle investigator on the BBC Loneliness Experiment, would like people to take a moment to think about loneliness: how does it affect children’s wellbeing and how might we help them manage those lonely experiences successfully? Often, […]
Is it time to address accent as part of the Teachers’ Standards?
Dr Alex Baratta, Lecturer in Language, Linguistics and Communications at the Manchester Institute of Education, discusses the ambiguity of ‘articulacy’ in the Teachers’ Standards and its effects on teachers and their accents. The Teachers’ Standards state that teachers in England and Wales must use standard English and demonstrate ‘articulacy’. There is no mention of accent […]
A lonely new year: how can we prevent loneliness in older age?
The post-Christmas lull is deemed to be a particularly lonely time for many individuals. As ‘Blue Monday’ fast approaches, Natalie Cotterell, PhD student in Social Statistics, discusses the challenges to successfully tackling loneliness. Approximately 14% of the UK population has reported that they often feel lonely, and this number has been found to rise to […]
When is a plan not a plan? Reflections on the NHS Long Term Plan.
Professor Kath Checkland and Dr Jon Hammond of the University’s Health Organisation, Policy and Economics unit (HOPE) share their thoughts on the Government’s new ‘Long-Term Plan’ for the NHS. The new NHS Long Term Plan, and the investment associated with it, are welcome announcements but still fall short of most accepted definitions of ‘plan’ A full […]
Empire and the World War One Centenary: Remembrance as racialisation?
Dr Meghan Tinsley, a Presidential Fellow in Ethnicity and Inequalities, reflects on the four years of the First World War centenary, asking to what extent collective memory of the war remains white and Eurocentric. She argues that in pursuit of a more global narrative of past and present, history curricula should emphasise three themes: the […]