Mudlarking through organisational culture

In this chapter, I explore how the metaphor, ontology and technique of mudlarking can shine a light on organisational culture providing us with more awareness, choice and agency on what organisation development (OD) practitioners can do. This chapter was developed through a series of foreshore excursions along the River Thames to record audio, video and photographs. The aim was to bring embodied and speculative methods to the practice of organisation developmentOD through a series of workshops that I ran. In doing so, I reflect on the experience in the context of Goethe’s notion of exact sensorial imagination, namely the importance of slowing down and noticing what is around us and the opportunities that this offers, something that is rarely discussed in the organisation developmentOD literature. Mudlarkers can often be seen on the foreshore of the river Thames in London looking for items from the past in the mud and gravel under their feet. A combination of an ancient port and capital city means that the tide continuingly churns the artefacts of the past. Over the centuries, destitute mudlarkers have slowly made their way along the foreshore at low tide eking out a meagre living. Nowadays mudlarking is for those who are keen to pursue their interest in history. Items discovered during mudlarking often include delicate Roman hairpins, fragments of medieval water jugs and Tudor buttons, and Victorian small change, ships’ nails and contemporary messages in a bottle. Mudlarking and what it reveals fascinates me, as does how we come to understand culture in organisations. In this chapter, I explore how mudlarking helps facilitate an understanding of organisational life and culture in terms of: (1) how we might refresh our worldview as to what counts for knowledge, (2) how we might develop techniques to notice, record and curate everyday items and encounters, and (3) how metaphor can be used to explore organisational culture. For you are an organisation development (OD) practitioners and consultants, the issue of culture is important, as it provides the backdrop that legitimises the norms, mores and behaviours of what is considered acceptable and not acceptable (Schein, 2004). In short, if you get the organisational culture right, then good things happen. However, more often than not in this field, we try to pin these ephemeral qualities down with surveys and questionnaires with rigid ‘yes/no’ questions that give judgement without context. The practical experience of walking on the foreshore creating film and audio enables the OD specialist to bring to the fore other ways of knowing as part of their practice. In this assertion, I am exploring interpretivism (Nickerson, 2022) whereby individuals recognise that they are integral to what is going on around them. Drawing inspiration from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in this chapter, I focus on one particular avenue, that of the nature and processes of exact sensorial imagination. I do this by drawing on the work of the physicist and philosopher Henri Bortoft (1996). By descending to, walking on and recording the foreshore via video and audio, I consider how engaging in a combination of ontology, technique and metaphor enables those with an interest in organisational life to see and develop their practice in new ways. The This chapter is organised around three main parts: an overview of mudlarking as a relevant interpretative practice; a set of practical exercises that draw upon this overview; and some concluding observations of the relevance of the mudlarking analogy to understanding and contributing to organisational culture

The ladybird plague

A poem drawing on European folklore to explore themes of war, genocide and eco-collapse

An ergonomic assessment of British Army Infantry career training courses to identify opportunities for evidence-based interventions to enhance role-related physical fitness

An ergonomic assessment was conducted to quantify the activities and physical demands during the British Army’s 8-week Platoon Sergeant and Section Commander Battle Courses (PSBC, SCBC). Twenty PSBC and 18 SCBC male infantry soldiers volunteered. Body Mass (BM) was measured pre- and post-course, with course physical activity levels (PAL), energy expenditure (EE) and sleep profiles quantified using tri-axial accelerometery. The courses were predominately field-based, involving slow and rapid load carriage tasks, digging and moving casualties. Average daily EE (SCBC = 4020 ± 599 vs. PSBC = 3876 ± 525 kcal.day−1; p>0.05) and BM decreases were similar (SCBC = −3.9 ± 2.9 vs. PSBC = −2.0 ± 2.7 kg; p>0.05). Daily PAL was higher for SCBC than PSBC (2.1 ± 0.3 vs. 2.0 ± 0.3, p=0.041), likely due to greater moderate-vigorous activity levels (p=0.003). Daily sleep durations were variable, but similar across courses (≈5.1 hr.day−1; p>0.05). These data confirm these courses are arduous and can be used to inform course-specific physical screening tests and training to increase course success

Foundations of expected points in rugby union: a methodological approach

This study explores the feasibility of an Expected Points metric for rugby union, aiming to shift performance analysis from descriptive indicators to a predictive metric of possession quality. Notational analysis was conducted on 132 Premiership Rugby matches, producing a dataset of 35,199 unique phases of play containing variables such as team in possession, pitch location, play type, score differences, time remaining and scoring outcomes. Four machine learning algorithms were explored to predict scoring outcomes: multinomial logistic regression, random forest, support vector machine and k-nearest neighbors. After extensive feature engineering and hyperparameter optimisation, the best-performing model achieved 39.7% accuracy, below a literature-derived baseline for practical usability (44.3%), making it unsuitable for applied contexts. A key challenge was predicting minority scoring outcomes due to severe class imbalance. SMOTE was explored to address this imbalance, resulting in a lower accuracy (35.7%) but an improved 34.4% F1-score. This study highlights the limitations of modelling scoring outcomes in open-play team sports, challenging the predominant positivist paradigm in sports performance analysis. The methodology provides critical foundational groundwork and a benchmark for future research to build upon. It recommends exploring advanced samplers for minority classes, expanded feature sets and alternative modelling techniques, such as recurrent neural networks

A protocol for international mental health guidelines for esports

Despite esports’ rapid growth as a competitive platform, the industry lacks comprehensive mental health support systems for players, coaches, and stakeholders who face unique challenges including emotional distress, online toxicity, and inadequate support structures. This study aims to develop evidence-based international mental health guidelines for the esports ecosystem using a community-based participatory research framework. The research employs a six-phase methodology: (a) stakeholder focus groups to determine preferences for guideline content and scope, (b) an e-Delphi study with international experts to gather recommendations, (c) an Expert Guideline Development Committee meeting to draft initial guidelines, (d) follow-up focus groups to assess guideline acceptability and usability, (e) a second e-Delphi study for expert feedback on revised guidelines, and (f) implementation case studies across various esports organizations. By 2026, these guidelines aim to establish a globally applicable framework that addresses the urgent need for mental health support in esports, while ensuring practical implementation across diverse organizational contexts

Co-produced research to bridge the ‘Knowledge Gap’ to support physical activity participation in disabled children and young people with limb difference

The objective of this nationwide (i.e., England), longitudinal (i.e., 2015-2024), and commissioned (i.e., National Disability Sport Organisation) study was to co-produce research with and for disabled children and young people with limb difference and their families to encourage participation in physical activity and create a more equitable and socially just society. Underpinned and informed by an equitable and experientially informed form of co-production, a core working group (N=45) was formed of families, service providers, and academics. Two research aims were constructed: (a) identify and understand a timely, relevant, and meaningful barrier to physical participation experienced by children and young people with limb difference and their families in England; and (b) co-produce resources that address this barrier and encourage physical activity participation. Multiple methods of data collection were used (N=4 multistakeholder sandpits; 84 meetings; N=351 nationwide surveys, N=26 focus groups, N=22 interviews). The barrier– ‘The Knowledge Gap’ (i.e., informational knowhow, experiential knowhow, and practical knowhow)– was addressed through three co-produced resources: website, social media forum, and physical activity events. Given a recent national survey in England found that disabled children are less active than their non-disabled peer (Activity Alliance 2020, 2024) and the World Health’s Organisation’s (2019) global action plan on physical activity, we believe this research makes a significant contribution to national and international strategy

Investigation of types of subjective mixed emotion experiences for self or other in early childhood

Aim: Children, adolescents and adults demonstrate the experience of opposite valence emotions at the same time when using a visual graph. We applied an Analogue Emotion Scale (AES) showing intensity and duration of mixed emotion experiences, and an exhaustive coding scheme to assess whether children in early childhood understand and graph known patterns and additional types of mixed emotional experiences. Methods: 112 children (59 girls) aged 5 - 7 years forming 2 age groups in the UK mainstream system (Year 1 n= 56, Year =2, n=56) were recruited across the UK allocated on the basis of alternation by gender on class lists to one of two conditions hearing vignettes describing mixed emotion events in an age and gender matched protagonist or themselves (other, n = 57 and self, n = 55). Findings: Graphs of new types of flexuous, vertical and other experiences were identified alongside sequential, prevalent, highly simultaneous and inverse types of experiences identified in older populations. Limitations: Real events may impact different mixed emotional response than a vignette approach and could form the basis for future study. Conclusions: The AES uncovered more simultaneous mixed emotional types than previously identified in early childhood. The utility of the findings in emotion assessments is discussed

Effects of blackcurrant extract during high-intensity intermittent running: an exploratory study of possible muscle fibre-type dependence

Intake of anthocyanin-rich blackcurrant extract showed muscle fibre-type specific force responses during fatigue development from combined use of voluntary maximal isometric contractions and electrically evoked twitch contractions of the m. quadriceps femoris. In the present exploratory study, we examined the fibre-type specific effects by blackcurrant extract on high-intensity intermittent treadmill running performance to exhaustion. Active males (n = 16, age: 23 ± 3 years, height: 179 ± 5 cm, body mass: 79 ± 3 kg, VO2max: 55.3 ± 5.0 mL·kg−1·min−1) completed a fatiguing protocol with 16 voluntary maximal isometric contractions to predict muscle fibre typology. The high-intensity intermittent running protocol was completed twice following a 7-day intake of blackcurrant extract (210 mg anthocyanins per day) and twice following a placebo (PL) in a randomized, double blind, crossover design. Heart rate and lactate were recorded at exhaustion. Data were averaged for each condition. There were no significant correlations between the percentage force decline by the repeated isometric contractions (mean ± SD: 29.3 ± 12.4%) and total and high-intensity running distance. Participants were categorized into a predominant muscle fibre type I (slow-twitch, n = 3 with the lowest isometric force decline: 12 ± 9%) and type II typology (fast-twitch, n = 3 with the highest isometric force decline: 46 ± 10%). Only the individuals with a predominant type I fibre typology improved the total running and high-intensity running distance by 17 ± 12% and 15 ± 11%. At exhaustion, there were no differences between individuals with a type I or II fibre typology for heart rate and lactate. These exploratory results suggest that the ergogenic potential of anthocyanin-rich blackcurrant extract on high-intensity intermittent exercise may depend on muscle fibre type, though larger and more robust studies are needed to confirm this observation. Future work will establish whether our exploratory results contributed to our understanding of the underpinning of inter-individual responses to the intake of anthocyanin-rich nutritional ergogenic aids

Staying with the trouble, a rhizomatic approach to posthuman methods: assemblages and becoming in the posthuman walking project

Persistent pain is the leading cause of years lived with disability worldwide. Research into pain experiences often adopts a humanistic perspective, predominantly relying on interview data and rarely engaging with real-world contexts. The Posthuman Walking Project brought together a transdisciplinary network of individuals with lived experiences of pain alongside academics and clinicians from five countries to collectively explore how posthuman philosophies might challenge human-centered paradigms. Specifically, we used mobile phone video footage to investigate the more-than- human entanglements of walking in the landscape when experiencing pain. This paper reflects on our engagement with the uncertainty and multifaceted nature of exploratory methods and how the process of “becoming posthuman” did not follow a pre-determined path. We outline our rhizomatic methodological approach, emphasizing the contributions of walker-partners, project development meetings, and the value of allowing methods to remain responsive and emergent. Finally, we discuss the complexities of studying the assemblage of humans, walking, pain, and landscape, illuminating the transformative potential of posthuman frameworks in understanding lived experiences of pain