National Child Development Study: Proteomics: Special Licence, 2002-2004

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The&nbsp;National Child Development Study&nbsp;(NCDS) is a continuing longitudinal study that seeks to follow the lives of all those living in Great Britain who were born in one particular week in 1958. The aim of the study is to improve understanding of the factors affecting human development over the whole lifespan.&nbsp;The NCDS has its origins in the&nbsp;Perinatal Mortality Survey&nbsp;(PMS) (the original PMS study is held at the UK Data Archive under SN 2137). This study was sponsored by the National Birthday Trust Fund and designed to examine the social and obstetric factors associated with stillbirth and death in early infancy among the 17,000 children born in England, Scotland and Wales in that one week. Selected data from the PMS form NCDS sweep 0, held alongside NCDS sweeps 1-3, under SN 5565.&nbsp;Survey and Biomeasures Data (GN 33004):To date there have been nine attempts to trace all members of the birth cohort in order to monitor their physical, educational and social development. The first three sweeps were carried out by the National Children's Bureau, in 1965, when respondents were aged 7, in 1969, aged 11, and in 1974, aged 16 (these sweeps form NCDS1-3, held together with NCDS0 under SN 5565). The fourth sweep, also carried out by the National Children's Bureau,&nbsp;was conducted in 1981, when respondents were aged 23 (held under SN 5566). In 1985 the NCDS moved to the Social Statistics Research Unit (SSRU) - now known as the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS). The fifth sweep was carried out in 1991, when respondents were aged 33 (held under SN 5567). For the sixth sweep, conducted in 1999-2000, when respondents were aged 42 (NCDS6, held under SN 5578), fieldwork was combined with the 1999-2000 wave of the&nbsp;1970 Birth Cohort Study&nbsp;(BCS70), which was also conducted by CLS (and held under GN 33229). The seventh sweep was conducted in 2004-2005 when the respondents were aged 46 (held under SN 5579), the eighth sweep was conducted in 2008-2009 when respondents were aged 50 (held under SN 6137) and the ninth sweep was conducted in 2013 when respondents were aged 55 (held under SN 7669).&nbsp;Four separate datasets covering responses to NCDS over all sweeps are available.&nbsp;National Child Development Deaths Dataset: Special Licence Access&nbsp;(SN 7717) covers deaths;&nbsp;National Child Development Study Response and Outcomes Dataset&nbsp;(SN 5560) covers all other responses and outcomes;&nbsp;National Child Development Study: Partnership Histories&nbsp;(SN 6940) includes data on live-in relationships; and&nbsp;National Child Development Study: Activity Histories&nbsp;(SN 6942) covers work and non-work activities. Users are advised to order these studies alongside the other waves of NCDS.From 2002-2004, a Biomedical Survey was completed and is available under&nbsp;End User Licence (EUL) (SN 8731) and Special Licence (SL) (SN 5594).&nbsp;Proteomics analyses of blood samples are available under SL SN 9254.Linked Geographical Data (GN 33497):&nbsp;A number of geographical variables are available, under more restrictive access conditions, which can be linked to the NCDS EUL and SL access studies.&nbsp;Linked Administrative Data (GN 33396):A number of linked administrative datasets are available, under more restrictive access conditions, which can be linked to the NCDS EUL and SL access studies. These include a&nbsp;Deaths&nbsp;dataset (SN 7717) available under SL and the&nbsp;Linked Health Administrative Datasets&nbsp;(SN 8697) available under Secure Access.Additional Sub-Studies (GN 33562):In addition to the main NCDS sweeps, further studies have also been conducted on a range of subjects such as parent migration, unemployment, behavioural studies and respondent essays. The full list of NCDS studies available from the UK Data Service can be found on the&nbsp;NCDS&nbsp;series access data webpage.&nbsp;&nbsp;How to access genetic and/or bio-medical sample data from a range of longitudinal surveys:For information on how to access biomedical data from NCDS that are not held at the UKDS, see the&nbsp;CLS Genetic data and biological samples&nbsp;webpage.Further information about the full NCDS series can be found on the&nbsp;Centre for Longitudinal Studies&nbsp;website.&nbsp;National Child Development Study: Proteomics: Special Licence, 2002-2004Proteomics analyses were run on the blood samples collected from NCDS participants in 2002-2004. This will substantially enhance NCDS and catalyse a step change in our understanding of the relationship between exposures from birth to midlife and their consequences for multiple physical and mental health disorders. It will provide high-dimensional biological information on these individuals during early midlife (aged 42 to 44), prior to the onset of most chronic disease, and at an age that is underrepresented in most cohorts, including UK Biobank (UKB).Embedding this technology within NCDS with linkage to existing genetics and biomarker data, repeat measures of social and biomedical exposures, and pre-clinical and clinical disease outcomes will drive a major uptake in NCDS data use, including by large-scale international academic consortia aiming to understand the determinants of healthy ageing.Main Topics:Proteomics analysis on blood samples collected at age 42.</p

English Housing Survey: Fuel Poverty Dataset, 2021

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The&nbsp;English Housing Survey&nbsp;(EHS ) Fuel Poverty Datasets are comprised of fuel poverty variables derived from the EHS, and a number of EHS variables commonly used in fuel poverty reporting. The&nbsp;EHS is a continuous national survey commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Community and Local Government (MHCLG) that collects information about people's housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England.&nbsp;End User Licence and Special Licence Versions&nbsp;Similar to the main EHS, two versions of the Fuel Poverty dataset are available from 2014 onwards. The Special Licence version contains additional, more detailed, variables, and is therefore subject to more restrictive access conditions. Users should check the End User Licence version first to see whether it meeds their needs, before making an application for the Special Licence version.&nbsp;Fuel Poverty Dataset Secondary modelling of EHS to derive fuel poverty income and energy consumption variables, The main fuel poverty metric in England is Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) and fuel poverty gap. Further information may be found in the&nbsp;Annual Fuel Poverty Statistics Report: 2021 (2019 Data)&nbsp;on the gov.uk website.</p

Childcare and Early Years Provision: Providers' Survey, 2023

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The introduction of the National Childcare Strategy in 1998 marked a radical shift in government policy and for the first time put childcare provision firmly on the political map. Since then a wide range of childcare initiatives and funding streams have been introduced, and hence there is a need for regular data to aid the evaluation of recent policy interventions in these areas. The Childcare and Early Years Provision survey series is divided into two survey strands: the Parents’ Survey and the Providers’ Survey. The Parents’ Survey provides data on parents’ take-up, views and experiences of childcare. Families in England are randomly selected from the Child Benefit Records and all parents had children aged 0-14 years. They are asked about their use and experiences of childcare for all children in the family and to give more detailed information about childcare for a particular child (selected at random where there is more than one child in the family). The current Parents' Survey series replaces two previous surveys: the Survey of Parents of Three and Four-Year-Old Children and Their Use of Early Years Services (conducted between 1997 and 2002) and Parents' Demand for Childcare,&nbsp;conducted in 1999 and 2001 (see SNs 4380 and 4970 respectively). The Providers' Survey monitors the characteristics and development of childcare and early years providers and the workforce in England. Information was collected on the number and characteristics of providers, the characteristics of the children enrolled, workforce composition, qualifications and training, recruitment and retention, and business operation. The 2016 survey underwent an extensive redesign, which means findings are not comparable with previous surveys.The 2020 survey was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic Further information is available on the GOV.UK&nbsp;Childcare and Early Years Statistics webpage.Special licence dataAdditional, more detailed variables from the Providers' Survey in 2018, 2019 and 2021 are available under Special Licence (SL). The SL data have more restrictive access conditions than those made available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement. Prospective users of the SL version will need to complete an extra application form and demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the additional variables in order to get permission to use that version. Users are advised to consult the EUL version first and the list of variables available under each study before applying.The Childcare and Early Years Provision: Providers' Survey, 2023 (SCEYP 2023) collected information on the main characteristics of childcare and early years provision in England to allow the evaluation of policy initiatives. The Department for Education (DfE) commissioned IFF Research and London Economics to conduct the SCEYP 2023. Data were collected via a mixed mode Computer Assisted Web Interviewing (CAWI) and Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI). The 2023 survey was designed to be comparable with the 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022 surveys (no survey was conducted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Other differences between the 2022 and 2023 surveys, such as minor differences to the questions, are detailed in the technical report.&nbsp; In particular, in 2023, following consultation with DfE and through cognitive testing with providers, the cost and income element of the survey was re-designed. This was done to improve respondent experience as well as to collect more reliable data.Main Topics:In addition to the core providers data file, there are three separate data files for childminders, group-based providers and school-based providers.These data cover a variety of subjects such as attendance and capacity; staff-to-child ratios; delivery of Government policies including funded entitlements and Tax Free Childcare (TFC); children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND); staff qualifications and pay; and the financial side of providing childcare such as costs, incomes and fees.</p

Finnish Thoughts on Energy Crisis 2022-2023

Aineisto koostuu kirjoituksista, joissa suomalaiset kertovat kokemuksistaan liittyen vuosien 2022 ja 2023 energiakriisiin. Avoimessa kirjoituskutsussa kysyttiin, millaisia ajatuksia ja tunteita nousseet energianhinnat vastaajassa herättävät. Kirjoittamista helpottamaan annettiin useampia apukysymyksiä. Apukysymyksissä tiedusteltiin muun muassa sitä, miten viime aikojen kriisit ovat vaikuttaneet vastaajan kulutustottumuksiin, sekä miten kohonneet kustannukset ovat vaikuttaneet omaan energiankäyttöön. Lisäksi kysyttiin esimerkiksi, mitä vastaaja on valmis uhraamaan osallistuaksesi säästötalkoisiin ja mistä hän ei haluaisi luopua. Kysyttiin myös, millaisena vastaaja näkee tulevaisuuden. Taustatietona on mainittu vastaajan sukupuoli, syntymävuosi, ammatti ja paikkakunta, jos hän on antanut niistä tiedon. Aineistosta on tehty html-versio, jonka hakemiston avulla kirjoituksia on helppo selata.The data consists of writings in which Finns describes their experiences of the energy crisis of 2022 and 2023. In the writing call respondents were asked to describe their thoughts and feelings about the increased energy prices. A number of supporting questions were provided to help with the writing process. These included questions on how recent crises have affected the respondent's consumption habits and how increased costs have affected their own energy use. Other questions included what the respondent is willing to sacrifice to participate in energy saving initiatives and what they would not be willing to give up. They were also asked how they see the future. Background information includes the respondent's sex, year of birth, occupation and place of residence, if provided. The data were organised into an easy to use HTML version at FSD

Citizen's Pulse 1/2024

Kansalaispulssi selvittää suomalaisten mielipiteitä ajankohtaisista aiheista, viranomaisten toiminnasta sekä vastaajan mielialasta ja huolenaiheista. Aineisto sisältää kysymyksiä Venäjän hyökkäyksestä Ukrainaan sekä teemoista, joihin maan hallituksen pitäisi kiinnittää huomiota. Tämän kierroksen kyselyssä kartoitettiin, kuinka tyytyväisiä vastaajat ovat demokratian toimivuuteen Suomessa ja kuinka paljon he luottavat toisiin ihmisiin sekä eri instituutioihin. Kysyttiin myös kuinka oikeudenmukaisena he pitävät suomalaista yhteiskuntaa. Vastaajan elämäntilanteesta, elämän merkityksellisyydestä ja yhteenkuuluvuudesta esitettiin väittämiä. Edelleen kysyttiin vastaajan mielialasta, luottamuksesta tulevaisuuteen sekä koetusta stressistä ja turvallisuudesta. Vastaajia pyydettiin myös arvioimaan suomalaisten kriisimielialaa tällä hetkellä. Lisäksi vastaajat arvioivat, mihin yhteiskunnallisiin teemoihin, kuten kestävään julkiseen talouteen, yritysten toimintaedellytyksiin, ilmastotoiminen edistämiseen ja toimivaan terveydenhuoltoon, hallituksen pitäisi lähitulevaisuudessa erityisesti kiinnittää huomiota. Turvallisuustilanteeseen ja Venäjän hyökkäykseen Ukrainaan liittyen kysyttiin, huolestuttavatko sodan mahdollinen laajeneminen tai Venäjän vaikuttamispyrkimykset. Lisäksi tiedusteltiin näkemyksiä EU:n Venäjälle asettamien talouspakotteiden hyväksyttävyydestä, kulutustottumusten muutoksista sekä korkojen nousun vaikutuksista. Edelleen kysyttiin vastaajien omakohtaisia havaintoja harhaanjohtavaan tietoon perustuvista vaikuttamisyrityksistä tai tietoturvaongelmista internetissä. Lisäksi tiedusteltiin kevään 2024 presidentinvaaleissa äänestämisestä. Taustamuuttujina olivat vastauskieli, vastaajan sukupuoli, ikäryhmä, maakunta, koulutus sekä tietoja kotitalouden rakenteesta ja taloudellisesta tilanteesta.The Citizens' Pulse surveys examine Finnish attitudes and opinions on current issues. Main themes in the surveys include the activity and communication of authorities, compliance with regulations, future expectations, trust, and the respondents' own state of mind. This collection round also included questions on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and issues that the Finnish government should address. The first collection round of 2024 surveyed the respondents' satisfaction with the state of democracy in Finland, as well as their trust in other people and various institutions (e.g. the Finnish Government, the health care system, the media, and the Finnish Defence Forces). The respondents were asked to evaluate how fair or unfair they thought Finnish society was at present, and their state of mind was examined with questions on various matters relating to health, well-being, and their situation in life. The questions covered, for example, the respondents' own mental well-being, whether they were worried about the adequacy of their income, their confidence in their future, and experiences of stress. Additionally, the respondents were asked to evaluate whether an atmosphere of crisis prevailed amongst Finns and whether Finland's NATO membership had impacted their sense of safety. The respondents' views were investigated on which societal issues (e.g. promotion of climate action, national defence, poverty reduction, effective healthcare, operating conditions of businesses and investment opportunities) the Finnish government should focus on in the near future. Opinions on whether Finland's national debt should be reduced regardless of the resulting cuts in benefits and welfare it would entail for Finnish citizens and whether social security cuts can be considered acceptable if they provide an incentive to take up work and increase employment were also surveyed. The respondents' views on the right to seek asylum in Finland were also charted. The next set of questions focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and national security in Finland. The respondents were asked how concerned they were about the crisis in Ukraine and its effects, and whether they were concerned that the war might expand beyond Ukraine. The respondents were also asked whether they were concerned that Russia might take military action against Finland or try to interfere with the functioning of Finnish society. Opinions on the economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU and whether Finland should be ready to receive significant numbers of refugees from Ukraine if necessary were charted. The respondents were asked whether Finland's actions on the border with Russia had reinforced their sense security, whether Finland's response to Russian interference has been adequate and timely, and whether the respondents were concerned about Russia's recent actions. Additionally, the respondents were asked whether the uncertainty caused by the crisis in Ukraine had impacted the respondents' consumer behaviour and whether the recent rise in interest rates had created financial difficulties for the respondents' households. The respondents were also asked whether they had noticed any cyber security issues or instances where purposefully misleading claims based on misinformation were spread on social media or online over the previous month. Voting intentions in the 2023 presidental election in Finland were surveyed by asking the respondents whether they intended to vote in the election, whether they intended to vote during the early voting period or on election day, and whether they felt that by voting they could have an impact on matters that were important to them and the people close to them. Background variables included the language responded in, the respondent's gender, age group, NUTS3 region of residence, highest level of education, household composition, and perceived financial situation of household

Kids' Life and Times Survey, 2024

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Kids' Life and Times Survey (KLT) began in 2008 and is conducted by Access Research Knowledge (ARK) which runs the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey (NILT) and the Young Life and Times Survey (YLT). The KLT is a survey of Primary year 7 (P7) children in Northern Ireland which is carried out online and in school. (Note that NILT did not run in 2011, but resumed in 2012. The KLT and YLT both ran as normal in 2011.) The aims of the KLT are to:provide broad-based monitoring systems to examine children's views on policy issues on a regular basisensure that the information from the survey is fed back to policymakers and others engaged in the policy debates around children and their livesprovide a high profile endorsement of 'participation' by Northern Ireland's childrenFurther information about KLT, including the comic-style publication with key results especially designed for children, may be found on the ARK main Kids' Life and Times Survey web pages.Main Topics:In 2024 the following topics were included in the survey: Background; School and Education; Home and Family; Children's Rights, Technology; Wellbeing; Self-Esteem</p

Flash Eurobarometer 3153 (Media & News Survey 2023)

Media habits.Topics: recent reception of media reports on the European Union; kinds of media used the most to access news in the last week: radio, TV, written press, online press or news platforms, video platforms, podcasts, social media platforms, messaging apps, blogs, no regular access to news; kind of access: website of the news source, news aggregator app or website, articles or posts in personal online social networks, content shared by friends, notifications from news app or alerts, email newsletters, other, no access to news; use of selected online social networks in the last week; purpose of use: watch photo and video content, share own opinion publicly or discuss within social media groups, send direct messages to friends and family, play video games, follow news and current events, buy or sell products, share own content, professional reasons, follow friends / family / colleagues, get to know new people, other; accessed topics in the last week; most trustworthy news sources; way of approaching news: actively search several times a day, follow on a daily basis, follow from time to time, try to avoid some news topics, actively avoid all news; follow influencers or content creators; preferred type of content from influencers or content creators. Demography: nationality; type of community; age; sex; age at end of education; occupation; professional position; household composition and household size; region. Additionally coded was: respondent ID; country; device used for interview; nation group; weighting factor.Mediennutzung.Themen: Rezeption von Medienberichten über die Europäische Union in der letzten Zeit; am häufigsten genutzte Arten von Medien zum Zugriff auf Nachrichten in der letzten Woche: Radio, Fernsehen, gedruckte Presse, Online-Presse- oder Nachrichten-Plattformen, Videoplattformen, Podcasts, Social-Media-Plattformen, Kurznachrichten-Apps, Blogs, kein regelmäßiger Zugriff auf Nachrichten; Art des Zugriffs: Website der Nachrichtenquelle, Website oder App eines Nachrichtenaggregators, Artikel oder Posts in persönlichen sozialen Netzwerken, von Freund*innen geteilte Inhalte, Benachrichtigungen von News-Apps, Email-Newsletter, sonstige, kein Zugriff auf Nachrichten; Nutzung ausgewählter sozialer Netzwerke im Internet in der letzten Woche; Nutzungszweck: Fotos und Videos ansehen, Öffentlichmachen der eigenen Meinung bzw. Diskussion in Gruppen in sozialen Medien, Direktnachrichten an Freunde und Familie senden, Videospiele spielen, Nachrichten und aktuellen Ereignissen folgen, Produkte kaufen oder verkaufen, Teilen eigener Inhalte, berufliche Gründe, Freund*innen / Familie / Kolleg*innen folgen, neue Leute kennenlernen, sonstige; Themen, auf die in der letzten Woche zugegriffen wurde; vertrauenswürdigste Nachrichtenquellen; Art des Verfolgens von Nachrichten: mehrmals täglich, täglich, ab und zu, Versuch des Vermeidens bestimmter Themen, aktives Vermeiden aller Nachrichten; Folgen von Influencer*innen oder Inhaltsersteller*innen; präferierte Art von Inhalten von Influencer*innen oder Inhaltsersteller*innen. Demographie: Staatsangehörigkeit; Urbanisierungsgrad; Alter; Geschlecht; Alter bei Beendigung der Ausbildung; Beruf; berufliche Stellung; Haushaltszusammensetzung und Haushaltsgröße; Region. Zusätzlich verkodet wurde: Befragten-ID; Land; für das Interview genutztes Gerät; Nationengruppe; Gewichtungsfaktor

Is Hiding My First Name Enough? Using Behavioural Interventions To Mitigate Racial and Gender Discrimination in the Rental Housing Market, 2021-2022

This dataset contains the data used in the study titled “Is hiding my first name enough? Using behavioural interventions to mitigate racial and gender discrimination in the rental housing market”. The data was collected from the London rental housing market between 2021 and 2022. Racial and gender biases are pervasive in housing markets. Males and ethnic minorities face discrimination in rental housing markets globally. The issue has been so pronounced that it regularly makes national and international headlines. In response to a racial discrimination lawsuit, Airbnb had to hide guests’ first names from rental hosts in Oregon, USA, starting in January 2022. Yet, there is little evidence that such measurement effectively counteracts racial and gender discrimination in housing markets. Despite some well-established theoretical models developed more than half a century ago and a wealth of empirical evidence accumulated over the last two decades, studies examining effective solutions to combat discrimination remain sparse especially in housing markets. Given the complexity of the products and services involved and the relatively low frequency of transactions, nuanced studies are needed to understand how implicit racial and gender biases influence letting decisions. This study investigates housing discrimination at the intersection where longstanding market behaviours meet the evolving insights of behavioural research. Although behavioural interventions have the potential to address both statistical and taste-based discrimination in the housing market, their successful implementation remains a challenge. Given the persistent biases and socio-economic dynamics in the housing market, interventions must be carefully tailored to the context. By collecting evidence from field experiments, this research aims to gain insights into how real-world behavioural interventions can be effectively designed and implemented. Our focus remains twofold: to develop a robust theoretical framework and to translate its insights into tangible, impactful policy recommendations, with the ultimate goal of fostering a more inclusive housing market.Although China has almost eliminated urban poverty, the total number of Chinese citizens in poverty remains at 82 million, most of which are rural residents. The development of rural finance is essential to preventing the country from undergoing further polarization because of the significant potential of such development to facilitate resource interflows between rural and urban markets and to support sustainable development in the agricultural sector. However, rural finance is the weakest point in China's financial systems. Rural households are more constrained than their urban counterparts in terms of financial product availability, consumer protection, and asset accumulation. The development of the rural financial system faces resistance from both the demand and the supply sides. The proposed project addresses this challenge by investigating the applications of a proven behavioural approach, namely, Libertarian Paternalism, in the development of rural financial systems in China. This approach promotes choice architectures to nudge people into optimal decisions without interfering with the freedom of choice. It has been rigorously tested and warmly received in the UK public policy domain. This approach also fits the political and cultural background in China, in which the central government needs to maintain a firm control over financial systems as the general public increasingly demands more freedom. Existing behavioural studies have been heavily reliant on laboratory experiments. Although the use of field studies has been increasing, empirical evidence from the developing world is limited. Meanwhile, the applications of behavioural insights in rural economic development in China remains an uncharted territory. Rural finance studies on the household level are limited; evidence on the role of psychological and social factors in rural households' financial decisions is scarce. The proposed project will bridge this gap in the literature.</p

Understanding Sexual Violence in Sex Working Populations: Aggregate Survey Data, 2023

The data were collected across four different legal environments, with reference to legislation governing sex work and sexual violence: legalisation (Nevada USA) where legal brothels are permitted in 10 of Nevada’s 17 counties; client criminalisation (Northern Ireland) whereby following the Nordic model, paying for sexual services is now a summary offence with a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison; decriminalisation (New Zealand) where prostitution, including the operation of brothels is permitted subject to municipal regulation and partial criminalisation (England, Scotland and Wales) whereby the act of selling sex itself is not illegal, but laws have been drafted around a number of facets of sex work such as brothel keeping, soliciting, living of the proceeds of prostitution and so forth. The data files contains a Microsoft excel worksheet with 17 tabs – a contents page is provided on the first tab. The frequency data for the survey responses has been presented by question or topic. The full wording of the questions has been provided at the top of each of the data tables or the top of each of the tabs.Globally, the most important public health issue that sex workers face is their experience of high levels of violence (Kinnell 2006, 2008; Alexander, 1999) with a systematic review estimating levels of sexual violence 'between 15-55%' (Deering, A., et al, 2014). The marginalisation of sex workers leaves them vulnerable to victimisation and with restricted access to the criminal justice system (Amnesty International 2016). Repeat victimisation is common, as is significant under-reporting of crimes to the police (Ahrens 2006; Krusi, A., et al. 2014; Penfold, C., et al. 2004). Even when cases do get reported, sex workers often experience discrimination (Kinnell 2008, Sullivan 2004; Shannon and Csete, 2010). This has led to increased evidence-based calls to make violence against sex workers a public health and human rights priority on national and international policy agendas (Amnesty International 2016, WHO 2012). A detailed examination of the research and policy literature shows the issue of violence against marginalised sex working populations has been dominated by the 'politics of sex work', with violence often used rhetorically in battles over what overall legal model would best promote safety (Pitcher and Wijers 2014; Shannon et al 2004). In order to facilitate a more collaborative public health response, there is an urgent need for studies that document not only sex workers' experiences of violence, but also for comparative and peer-led research to better document and respond to the contextual factors shaping sexual violence against sex working populations and the interventions that best promote a sense of justice for victims (Connelly et al 2018, Platt et al 2018). In this research, we will explore how the legal boundaries of sexual assault and rape are constructed in practice (not just in abstract debates) and compare how criminal justice processes operate in different jurisdictions and in different contexts. This project will be the first international, comparative study to examine the contextual factors that shape sexual violence against sex workers, initiating a programme of research in New Zealand, the UK, Northern Ireland and Nevada, USA. Our aims are threefold: 1. Theoretical: to explore sex workers' experiences and prevalence of sexual violence against the legal norms and boundaries in each of the four legislative models, also examining the least investigated inflictions such as 'stealthing' (removal of condom). This will be operationalised across the four study locations through online surveys of sex workers on sexual violence, which will measure prevalence, experiences, understandings of the law, experiences with the police, courts and other agencies, support received and interventions, and outcomes of cases. 2. Empirical: to enhance what is known about sex workers' experiences of the criminal justice system by excavating new empirical data on how the system operates in different jurisdictions, looking at the impact of legislative models on how sexual violence is responded to, the impact of different settings and attrition, outcome, and conviction. This will be operationalised through case observations (n=5 per country, total 20) of sexual assaults which have gone through the criminal justice system, with analysis for characteristics, perpetrator, outcome, and conviction. 3. Practice-based: to facilitate the integration of best practice from review of what works regarding supporting victims into safety and health-related provision, policies and agencies, led by 'experts by experience'. This will be operationalised through interviews with practitioners, police, and criminal justice personnel (n=30 per country) to assess issues such as reporting, signposting, available resources, therapy, and criminal justice support.</p

Evaluating Multisensory Stimuli as a Mechanism to Boost Cognition and Wellbeing in Old Age, 2021-2024

With advancing healthcare and increased standards of living, the proportion of older adults in society is now higher than ever and is set to rise further over the coming decades. A key focus of research is to ensure that individuals maintain their cognitive abilities and quality of life into an extended old age. The current project aimed to explore the successful coping with age-related declines in sensory ability, by finding out how combining sensory information from multiple sources may compensate for impairments in hearing and vision. The data repository contains a variety of behavioural psychology work testing if age differences in cognition can be manipulated across unimodal and multimodal stimuli presentation. This was achieved by manipulating the presence of visual and auditory information when participants completed tasks involving attention and memory. Overall, data largely showed similar influences of modality for young and older adults. This is in contrast to predictions derived from the literature.With advancing healthcare and increased standards of living, the proportion of older adults in society is now higher than ever and is set to rise further over the coming decades. A key focus of research is to ensure that individuals maintain their cognitive abilities and quality of life into an extended old age. The current project aims to explore the successful coping with age-related declines in sensory ability, by finding out how combining sensory information from multiple sources may compensate for impairments in hearing and vision. Hearing impairment affects 71% of adults over 70 and more than 96% of those aged over 50 wear spectacles at least some of the time. A variety of recent research has shown that older adults perform better in tasks that utilise multimodal stimuli (e.g., audiovisual). This preference towards multisensory processing in older adults is a new result in the literature. It is currently unknown if this is a general change (like other effects of ageing such as slowing and memory loss), or if it is a compensatory process resulting from age-related sensory decline. Our data will resolve this issue and we will also establish if websites and phone calls can be usefully enhanced by video, which is multisensory. We propose that multisensory stimuli can alleviate age deficits typically found in memory tasks by supporting cognitively-demanding perceptual processing. A well-established feature of age-related sensory loss (such as impaired vision and hearing) is its association with corresponding age-related deficits in cognition (such as memory and paying attention). A surprising finding is that some patterns of age deficits in cognition can be replicated in young adults by reducing their ability to perceive experimental stimuli: For example, if a list of items is degraded so that it is harder to see, young adults will find it harder to remember that list than a list of easy-to-see items. This suggests that perceptual processes are taking up cognitive resources that might otherwise have been used to effectively memorise information. Such findings therefore demonstrate the potential to improve cognitive performance by facilitating perception. In this study, we will investigate whether memory improves when people can both see and hear the lists of items. The finding that older adults make more use of multisensory (auditory and visual) stimuli comes mainly from studies where older adults make simple responses to visual, auditory, or audiovisual stimuli. Memory tasks involve more complicated perceptual and cognitive processes. In a series of 9 studies, we will advance the theoretical understanding of multisensory processing in ageing and establish how memory performance can be improved by making stimuli multisensory. We will also establish if a bias towards multisensory processing in older adults is a result of individual differences in sensory ability (e.g., does an individual with hearing impairment use more visual information than an individual without hearing impairment), or if this is just a general response to ageing. We will also establish if age deficits can be further alleviated by actively encouraging the use of multisensory stimuli through experimental instruction. Finally, we will investigate whether the benefits we find in lab-based studies can lead to real-world improvements in memory and wellbeing for older adults. For example, we will investigate whether multimedia information can help older adults to obtain and remember health information more effectively than when information is only presented visually. Throughout the project, we will evaluate how receptive older adults are to the utilisation of multisensory materials in different contexts to assess where these interventions should be targeted.</p