Modern life can feel like one of constant crisis, through exposure on social media feeds, local news or even your personal life. Recovering from the physical and emotional toll of these is hard, but also essential. 

Doctor Sara Spowart from the University of South Florida, is a researcher specialising in the psychology of support around survival. Her framework of integrative happiness sets out a vital tool for all those affected by trauma to find happiness and stability in their lives again.

Read her original work at : https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107413

This interview includes discussion of war, natural disasters, poverty, assault and the pandemic. Listener discretion is advised. 

While data science can transform public sector policy-making, places like Lebanon lack the data infrastructure and governance rules needed to support public sector data analysis.

Professor Lama Moussawi and Raghda Kawass at the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business, American University of Beirut, examine how Lebanon can promote data analytics to improve policy-making and service delivery.

Read more in Research Features

Read the original research: doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2017.1313045

Many of us first experience the concept of learning in formal school settings, but how do we learn in non-formal settings like museums and zoos?

This is a question that Professor Joe E Heimlich and colleagues at the Center of Science and Industry (COSI), a science museum in Columbus, Ohio, USA are working to answer.

Read more in Research Outreach

Read the original research: doi.org/10.1080/10598650.2022.2135353

In this episode of the Transforming Society podcast, Jess Miles speaks with Julia Mortimer, Journals Director and Head of Open Access at Bristol University Press.

They discuss recent developments in Open Access, including funder mandates, community-led models and the direction Bristol University Press are heading in.  In addition, they offer advice for authors, and potential authors, for navigating this fast-moving publishing landscape.

Find out more about Open Access on the Bristol University Press website.

Bristol University Press/Policy Press newsletter subscribers receive a 25% discount – sign up here.

Robots play an important part in our everyday lives. Non-autonomous systems can be found in industry, surgical theatres, and even our homes, and more autonomous robots are integral to space and deep-sea exploration.

Dr Sirko Straube and Professor Dr Frank Kirchner from the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) are seeking to translate this greater autonomy of space and maritime applications to the human sphere.

Read the original research: doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11447-2_4

Read more in Research Outreach: doi.org/10.32907/RO-140-6297744387

Communication and consent are key in doctor-patient relationships. Doctors need to know what’s expected of them, and patients have the right to receive adequate information about diagnosis and treatment, and seek damages if things go wrong.   

If that patient has mental health issues, how are their rights around informed consent and court challenges impacted?
  

Professor Gary Chan Kok Yew from Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University, has researched on the legal standards for ‘medical advice’ under Singapore’s legal system. His work covers how the rights of patients with mental health problems, who may be especially vulnerable to problems and challenges relating to doctor-patient communications, can be protected. 

Read the original research: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/4309/  

In this episode of the Transforming Society podcast, Richard Kemp speaks with Ed Atkins, author of A Just Energy Transition: Getting Decarbonisation Right in a Time of Crisis, about what is needed for an energy transition to be just.

They discuss the need to ensure decarbonisation doesn’t come at the expense of already marginalised communities, the role that green jobs will play and the importance of acknowledging that while an energy transition will change our everyday lives, it has the potential to change them for the better.

A Just Energy Transition by Ed Atkins is available on the Bristol University Press website. Order here for £26.99.

Bristol University Press/Policy Press newsletter subscribers receive a 25% discount – sign up here.

Since 2020, various crises have disrupted leaders on every level and have led to the emergence of some new and welcome leadership styles. In this episode, Professor Veronica Hope Hailey and her guest Nick Hampton, Chief Executive Officer at Tate & Lyle, discuss whether these new styles will stick, and talk candidly about the challenge of being a leader in a world beset by crises.

Find out more about the Business School’s research: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/business-school/research/

Read their Thought Leadership articles: https://www.cipd.org/en/views-and-insights/thought-leadership/insight/responsible-business/

What are the spatial factors influencing health inequalities within a socio-economically homogeneous country?

Dana Hübelová, Alice Kozumplíková, and colleagues from Mendel University in Brno investigate health disparities across different regions of the Czech Republic. The team explore how economic conditions, social care access, and regional characteristics impact health, and why urban areas don't always have better health indicators than rural regions.

Read the original research: doi.org/10.1186/s12939-023-01996-2

In this episode, Oscar Berglund and Elizabeth A. Koebele, Co-Editors of the Policy & Politics journal, talk to Jess Miles about the latest special issue – ‘Transformational change through public policy’.

They discuss what transformational change is, how public policy academia needs to adapt to bring it about and their hope to inspire a new generation of scholars by setting out the structure for a research program.

Read the special issue of Policy & Politics, ‘Transformational change through public policy’, on Bristol University Press Digital.