Jurors and the use of extraneous material during deliberations: comparing the issues raised by two recent cases from England and Wales and New South Wales

This article explores the problem of jurors conducting their own research and using extraneous material during deliberations. While such cases are rarely reported, they do arise. This is despite efforts in many jurisdictions to deter jury misconduct through the use of jury notices, judicial warnings to jurors, and the creation of specific criminal offences of jury misconduct. This article explores the approaches taken by the courts in cases involving jurors conducting research. It then considers the themes raised in two recent cases in England and Wales and New South Wales, namely R v Smith (Jason) [2023] EWCA Crim 1256 and R v Tembeleski (No 2) [2024] NSWDC 504. These two cases demonstrate the contemporary relevance and cross-jurisdictional nature of this type of jury misconduct. Finally, this article proposes the creation of a new offence in England and Wales of failing to report jury misconduct and calls for further research into why jurors carry out their own research despite being warned not to

Tactical behaviors in men’s and women’s middle-distance global championship track finals

Purpose: To analyze tactical behaviors associated with performance in track middle- distance global championship finals. Methods: Finalists’ season-best (SB), finishing race time (RT), 100m section times, and intermediate positions were obtained from 800-m and 1500-m men’s and women’s finals in two Olympic Games and five World Championships. Differences between medalists (M), fourth to eighth (T8), and ninth to 12th/13th (T12) ranked finalists in relative performance (relative to SB), RT and section times were determined. Pearson correlations between intermediate position and section speed with final position, and probability of winning a medal at each race point were calculated. Results: A very high correlation was found between intermediate and final position at first 100m in the women’s 800-m (r = 0.84;p = 0.008), which was maintained throughout the race. M were relatively faster than T8 in men’s and women’s 800-m finals (p = 0.006;d = 0.87, and p = 0.039;d = 0.59, respectively). Differences in relative performance between groups in 1500-m finals appeared at the end of the race, although they arose earlier in women’s races. Probability of winning a medal decreased with lower intermediate positions, especially in the latest race stages. Conclusions: A high intermediate position as well as the ability to run fast in the latest race stages seem critical to medaling in track middle-distance global championship finals. The abilities to adopt leading positions for the whole 800-m event, and to generate an endspurt, relatively faster than the rest of competitors, in the 1500-m event, are critical

Constructing Culturally Safe Learning Spaces for International Students

This commentary explores the intersection of cultural safety and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to establish inclusive and supportive educational environments for international students in UK higher education. Reflecting on our transition from international students to educators, we share insights derived from literature, academic discussions, and practical experiences, including the development of a staff workshop for the Power of Potential Conference (2024). We propose a Model of Evolving Cultural Competence that underscores cultural humility and continuous learning as pivotal to creating culturally safe learning spaces. Through an analysis of three UDL checkpoints—sustaining effort and persistence, language and symbols, and expression and communication—we offer actionable strategies for educators to foster engagement, representation, and participation. These include integrating diverse student perspectives, leveraging multimodal resources and providing inclusive assessment methods to empower international students. Our approach challenges normative biases, promotes cultural curiosity, and addresses power imbalances, emphasising the co-creation of knowledge and mutual learning. By combining cultural safety and UDL principles, this paper advocates for a dynamic and reflective pedagogy that enhances student belonging, inclusivity, and equitable engagement. These practices aim to benefit both students and educators, fostering transformative learning environments that support diversity and cultural competence

Submission to Select Committee 5b: Health and Child Development

What evidence is there that TV and video content that children watch, and how they watch it can contribute negatively to their health, learning and development and what can be done

Innovative, appreciative, and impactful research for practice

This chapter identifies significant links between research and quality improvement. By taking an appreciative approach, it aims to support practitioners in evaluating practice and initiating small changes within their settings, based upon engagement with theory and research. It empowers practitioners to understand practice/work-based enquiry. Within this chapter, there is a strong emphasis on improving quality and ensuring that conducting research is purposeful either to the setting, to children’s experiences or your own professional development

Exploring midwives perceptions and experiences of home birth

In the context of the low national home-birth rate, a local home birth service was developed. Since its implementation, there has been no formal review of factors that may influence the home birth service’s effectiveness. Midwives’ perceptions and experience of home birth, which can have an impact on the home birth rate, has been largely unexplored. This service evaluation used a qualitative approach, which highlights that midwives believe issues such as: exposure to home birth, midwifery philosophy, essential home birth training and investment from management would increase midwives’ feelings of confidence in home birth, potentially increasing local home birth rates

Rebelling Against Violent Regimes: The Case of Lima’s Fog Oases

Sustainability transitions are an increasingly relevant field of research that focusses on the necessary shifts to break away from unsustainable patterns of production and consumption to achieve more sustainable scenarios. Despite being a relatively young field of research, it has made significant progress with emphasis on power, governance, and the geographies of sustainability transitions. However, such progress has failed to fully incorporate the influence of colonialism in the configuration of unsustainable systems – mainly in the Global South – that are often violent and oppressive. In that sense, scholars have recently called for including decolonial and post-colonial approaches in the analysis of sustainability transitions in order to decolonise sustainability transitions. Coloniality, understood as the persistent influence of colonialism, is a fundamental concept to achieve such aim. Building on that concept, this chapter focusses on Lima’s fog oases where land-trafficking – a violent regime – transforms a vulnerable ecosystem into an economic asset for capital accumulation. Drawing from semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis, this chapter argues that research on sustainability transitions must put the violence underpinned by coloniality as well as the role of territory on the spotlight. This way, this chapter aims to expanding the discussions on decolonising sustainability transitions

The Roles of Chatbots and Sustainability in The Marketing of Fashion Brands

This research presents an empirical enquiry into the roles of chatbots in the marketing of fashion brands and how this strategy may improve sales and contribute to a company’s digital marketing strategies. The study explores artificial intelligence-powered chatbots as a communications interface between fashion brands and consumers on digital platforms. This study also addresses the impacts and the roles of sustainability concepts in the marketing of fashion brands. The present study advances the horizon of knowledge and understanding on the roles of chatbots in the marketing of fashion brands, the significance of chatbots in building relationships with customers, the roles of chatbots to establish interactions and communications with customers, and act as interface platform to disseminate information to customers about fashion brands and sustainability. It thereby enables practitioners to understand and acknowledge the roles of chatbots in the marketing of fashion brands and to further develop more related tools that can contribute to the development of innovative digital marketing strategies that can advance product sales and strategic marketing communications to promote, advertise, and persuade customers during their purchase decision-making process

Understanding the Scale and Nature of Parent/Guardian Telephone Calls to a Tertiary Children’s Cardiac Centre: A Service Evaluation

Heart defects are the second most common congenital anomaly in babies born in the UK and standards state families should have access to a children’s cardiac nurse specialist telephone advice service. However, there is little published information to describe the nature of calls and the workload associated with telephone support. We conducted a prospective service evaluation of telephone calls received at one UK specialist children’s cardiac surgical center from parents/carers (April–June 2019). All inpatient cardiac teams (cardiology secretaries, inpatient cardiac wards, outpatient department and Clinical Nurse Specialist team) were asked to record calls on a purpose-designed template. This included recording of call duration and reason (from pre-defined categories), with the aim to identify the volume and nature of phone calls. Actions and time taken to resolve issues were not recorded. Data was entered into Excel and analyzed using descriptive statistics. In a seven-week period, 204 telephone calls were received; 41% (n = 83) to the clinical nurse specialist team, 25% (n = 51) to medical secretaries, 20% (n = 42) to cardiac ward staff and 14% (n = 28) to the cardiac outpatient department. The mean length of calls was 6.08 mins (SD 5.07 mins). Across all groups phone call duration totaled 20.8 hours. Sixty-two calls (31% of all calls) reflected 70 concerns/queries about a current health issue. The most common reasons included respiratory (n = 13), heart rate or rhythm (n = 12) and chest pain/pallor (n = 11). Sixty-five calls (32% of all calls) related to issues surrounding medications, with 23% (n = 15) related to dose queries and 49% (n = 32) related to repeat prescription requests or challenges obtaining prescriptions. The results demonstrated a high telephone support need for current health issues or medication queries which required timely assessment and support from health care professionals working across cardiac services. Further research is required to identify the time implications of dealing with phone calls and interventions to support parent/guardian assessment and communication about their concerns and medication management