Drawing versus digital: a category error

This article challenges the assumption that traditional drawing is less powerful than digital means of producing images. The power of digital imaging technology is widely perceived to render traditional drawing instruction less relevant in visual arts programmes at all levels. This assumption is the result of what Gilbert Ryle called a ‘category mistake’, corrected by understanding that drawing is the progenitor of digital means, rather than a different ontological category. The article proposes that drawing pedagogy remains an efficient, economical means of nurturing an intelligence of seeing; subsequent applications of such intelligence have facilitated all technologies, including the relatively recent digital means of image production and manipulation

The ‘roots/routes to fruit’ model: developing a ‘fruitful’ collaborative network across universities

This study explores the development and dynamics of the Wales Collaborative for Learning Design (WCLD), a multidisciplinary network across eight Welsh universities. Funded by Welsh Government, the WCLD aimed to foster collaboration in digital learning design while supporting individual and collective academic growth. The study aimed to investigate what factors impact on the development and sustainability of a personal and professional, multidisciplinary Higher Education collaborative network. Using a collective autoethnographic approach, the research explored the network’s evolution, highlighting the interplay of person attributes, facilitating conditions, and professional relationships. Findings revealed key factors including trust, open-mindedness, and consistent communication as essential to the network’s sustainability and success. Further findings illustrate how positive constraints, diverse career stages, and interdisciplinary opportunities underpin growth and productivity. ‘Outcomes’ included enhanced institutional impact, significant personal and professional conversations, and the cross-pollination of ideas within and beyond the network. When considered as a process, the findings underscore the value of cultivating intentional, yet adaptable, collaborative networks to support higher education innovation and personal academic development. This culminates in the ‘Roots/routes to Fruit’ model. This original contribution builds on existing theory surrounding significant, collaborative networks and provides a process for future interdisciplinary, multi-institutional, collaborative networks to build upon

Exploring Classroom Grouping Practices in Wales

Grouping practices in classrooms are under-researched within the Welsh context. This exploratory research aimed to provide information about grouping practices for those with additional learning needs (ALN) and educators' decision-making concerning these. In addition, the study sought to gain insight into changes to grouping practices during the COVID-19 pandemic and priorities for the future. Data was gathered using an online survey of primary and secondary school ALNCos (n=102) based in Wales. Findings revealed that mixed ability was the most frequently used grouping practice for general subjects across primary and secondary schools. Similar to figures found elsewhere in the UK, the grouping of core subjects in both age phases was attainment-based. A wide range of grouping practices were selected, which offered support for academic learning, with less focus on learner choice or socially-based groups. This was the case for learners with and without ALN, and figures also show an increase in attainment grouping for younger children. ALNCos highlighted concerns over the standard of ALN provision during the pandemic and the need to move towards more child-centred, socially-focused interventions. Implications of the study and recommendations for the future are discussed

Weaving lost traditions: a comparative transdisciplinary reconstruction of a Welsh cleft hazel basket

This study explored the reconstruction of traditional Welsh cleft hazel basketry through a transdisciplinary methodology that combines descriptive and thematic analysis with ethnographic methods. It aimed to document the reconstruction process in detail and compare the outcomes of a volunteer-led initiative with the practices of traditional makers. The descriptive element of the project recorded the sequence of actions and technical decisions made by volunteers, revealing the challenges and adaptations involved. In contrast, its comparative aspect examined how material selection, preparation, and construction techniques difered between experimental reconstruction and the place-based, embodied expertise of traditional craftspeople. Traditional makers drew on generational knowledge, aligning material selection with seasonal rhythms and integrating biophilic design principles that enhanced structural resilience and cultural resonance. Volunteers, lacking this ecological literacy and tacit skill, often struggled with sourcing and technique, leading to compromises in durability and visual coherence. While the reconstruction process offered valuable insights, it could not fully replicate the depth of practice sustained by traditional makers. Rather than serving as a controlled experimental model, the study embraced an experiential and ethnographic lens to explore lost traditions, emphasising the value of heritage crafts as living, situated practices

Demonic possession and the holy spirit: insights into the contested debate of ecstatic religious experiences in Brazil

‘Demonic possession’ is an ambivalent topic. While the belief in the power of spirits – including the Holy Spirit, spirits of the dead, angels, African deities, Satan and demons – is widespread, Christian theologians including Pentecostals argue that Christian cannot be demonized, and demonology is therefore irrelevant for the theological practice. However, deliverance from demons is core practice of many neo-Pentecostal churches in Brazil today. This article focuses on the experience of ‘demonic possession’ which is seen as an increasingly popular sub-category of religious ecstasy. In addition to the experience itself, the article discusses the impact of a diagnose of demonic possession, in particular when healing does not happen. While an improvement of the exorcised person is regarded as a successful exorcism, a failed improvement is interpreted as the ongoing presence of the demons. Everyone who is not healed is seen as either still under the influence of the demons or having insufficient faith. This leads to a wider discussion of the term possessão (spirit possession) and its usefulness in the ethnographic context of Brazil. The paper argues that while the term ‘spirit possession’ is an accepted academic category it has limited usefulness in the field. Inspired by fieldwork carried out in Brazil among communities of African derived religions, Spiritism, and Charismatic Christianity, the author reflects on criticism against the term possessão among religious practitioners

From policy to practice: Education practitioners’ engagement with Wales’ framework on embedding a whole-school approach to emotional and mental health and well-being

Good mental health and well-being are fundamental to the growth of children and young people, underpinning their ability to form healthy relationships and build enduring emotional resilience. In Wales, rising mental health concerns have prompted the integration of well-being into education policy, culminating in the publication of the Framework on Embedding a Whole-School Approach to Emotional and Mental Health and Well-being. This study explores how education practitioners (EPs) in Wales interpret and implement the Framework within their school settings. Using a mixed methods approach, survey responses from 85 EPs and qualitative data from 26 participants in focus groups and interviews were analysed to identify facilitators, barriers, and support needs. Findings reveal wide variability in awareness and implementation, with stronger uptake observed where leadership, collaboration, and professional learning were prioritised. Key challenges included unclear role responsibilities, limited Welsh-medium resources, and insufficient staff training. Despite these bar-riers, many reported that the Framework has helped embed well-beinginto the curriculum and school culture, fostering more preventative and sustainable practices. The study underscores the importance oftargeted guidance, ongoing capacity-building, and equitable resourcedistribution to ensure consistent and meaningful application acrossschools. These findings offer valuable insights for policy-makers seeking to bridge the gap between national aspirations and practical delivery,and reinforce the need for systemic support to embed whole-schoolwell-being as a universal priority in Welsh education

Influence Of Using Mobile Health Monitoring Applications among Elderly Patients for Obesity in the UK

Background: The incidence of obesity in the elderly in the UK is increasing raising a major public health concern associated with comorbidities and costs of healthcare. However, given the increasing role of mobile health (mHealth) applications in weight management, little research has been conducted to date to evaluate their effectiveness for this purpose within an elderly population. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using mHealth monitoring applications in the UK on both the related health outcomes and the directly related behaviour changes, usability, and ethical concerns among elderly patients with obesity. Methods: Systematic literature review design was used, where quantitative peer-reviewed studies done from 2013 – 2023 were analysed. Databases such as PubMed, Scopus and CINAHL were searched using predefined keywords. Inclusion criteria included studies of elderly users aged 60 and above using mobile application for weight management which showed measurable outcome like BMI, behavioural change, and user engagement. The data of 10 studies were critically appraised and thematically synthesised into four major themes. Results: mHealth interventions resulted in moderate, however, statistically substantial, BMI and body weight decreases particularly for more than 12 weeks. Self-monitoring and dietary habits improved, but overall engagement has to be maintained, and usability barriers found. Areas for further research will be highlighted in the chapter, and the implications of the insights for policy and practice discussed. There are obvious privacy concerns, with people not familiar with data sharing policies, for the need of ethical transparency. Results from this study can be applied to inform the design of future mHealth interventions, and the results from better, more engaging and easier to use apps for elderly users. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that mHealth applications can assist with obese management of the elderly in the UK, provided their usability and privacy issues are resolved. This leads to the need for age-appropriate app design and a better understanding of the data and more longitudinal research

Eighty Days

Eighty Days is a poem written in collaboration with the digital location application what3words and was generated by inputting the travel destinations of Jules Verne’s fictional protagonist Phileas Fogg. When working with non-human collaborators we are, perhaps inadvertently, establishing a mode of practice in which the cultural privilege afforded to human authorship is reoriented to formulate a new collaborative paradigm. This poetic gesture considers this new paradigm in relation to the Derridean supplement, the methodological approaches of the OuLiPo group and the production of socio-digital linguistic rhythms

Do humans have special duties and moral obligations towards, rather than ‘rights’ over, nonhuman animals? And if such duties exist, what does our collective treatment of nonhumans say about human morality?

This thesis supports the case against all forms of animal exploitation and speciesist assumptions that prevail in most human societies. It falls broadly into (a) evidential and philosophical bases for recognising the basic interests and moral entitlements of nonhumans, and (b) criticism of anthropocentric beliefs, systems and strategies that deny such interests and entitlements and rationalise our collective misuse of nonhuman beings. It begins by presenting evidence that it is not necessary to use animal products to meet human needs, since viable alternatives are available. And without necessity, claims of ‘rights’ to exploit animals are invalid. Accordingly, nonhumans have, by default, entitlements to life, liberty and non-interference, which underpin our moral obligations towards them. It is increasingly evident that many, or most, animal species can experience pain and suffering, and many share important cognitive capacities with humans - including self-awareness and intentionality. This contradicts Neo-Cartesian claims that nonhumans are not phenomenally conscious or sentient and weighs against a categorical distinction between humans and other species. As sentience underpins the baseline moral requirement of non-harm, it is consistent to apply this principle to all beings with this capacity. This entails an obligation not to abuse our power over others, but to use such powers to protect them. Here, the virtue of mercy is considered, with reference to Seneca’s exposition in De Clementia. On the basis of their interests, capacities and telos, nonhumans can be recipients of justice. The thesis argues against versions of contractualism that make this conditional upon the ability to claim rights or fulfil obligations; it also challenges theories that link moral standing to a hierarchical model of cognitive capacities. I contend that humans rely on an artificial normative-ethical framework, which contrasts with the apparent proto-moral homeostasis (‘respectivity’) that seems naturally to govern nonhumans. On this basis it is argued that moral sensibility is not derived from reason but from a shared evolutionary capacity. This links into the proposition that humans inhabit an artificial cultural-technological ‘shell’, which conditions our experience and perception of the world. This is related to concepts of ideology and various social-psychological misconstructions which rationalise our exploitation of nonhuman beings. The discussion then moves to the human egoic self – the ‘I’ as a constructed entity, rather than simple self-awareness – which conditions our relationships with other living beings. This is linked in to the ‘fascism hypothesis’, wherein the fetishised ego manifests collectively and inverts the primal relational dynamic of nature. Others have suggested that humans have undergone some fundamental break with nature. This thesis argues (referencing mythopoeic narratives such as ‘the Fall’) that this estrangement may stem from humans’ acquisition of abstract-conceptual reasoning. It then considers the view (from Schopenhauer, among others), that moral intuition (rather than reason alone) is the key to reconnecting with the wider, nonhuman world. Finally, these themes are linked to natural law theory (NLT), which posits moral truth as integral to the rational plan which orders the universe and governs all living things. For Aquinas, this can be grasped only by (human) reason, but against this anthropocentric interpretation, I argue that only nonhumans abide by the principles of natural law. And without Aquinas’ anthropocentrism, NLT could offer a comprehensive framework for modern animal ethics