MAKING CULTURAL WARRIORS: AFROREGGAE'S SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY OF THE ARTS

This thesis is based on a practice-as-research project with young people by artists from Brazilian arts and social project, AfroReggae and myself. The project Cultural Warriors, took place in three English cities, London, Manchester and Gateshead and one Brazilian, Rio de Janeiro, between January 2010 and May 2012. Cultural Warriors was part of a larger international knowledge exchange programme, From the favela to the world, which interrogated international practice that use the arts to enact change within communities. AfroReggae utilized embodied arts practices to offer artistic development and reflection to UK artists and art organisations. Theoretical considerations of embodiment, place, affect and engaged performance frame this research. The research seeks to locate the potential of affective artistic engagement as a mode of individual and community transformation. My research examined the following: The capacity for international cultural exchanges to achieve transformational impact, and extend the learning, personal development and experience of UK young people with a range of learning abilities The extent AfroReggae methodologies could be used to extend the learning, practice, ambition and reach of UK arts organisations. How the achievements of the project could be documented to widely disseminate its learning. The thesis is composed of three elements: Cultural Warriors An international practice based research programme for UK artists and arts organisations in partnership with artist from AfroReggae. Artist, Activist or Warrior? A multi-media e-document arising from Cultural Warriors. The document uses a range of multimedia to give a sensory background to Cultural Warriors and a context on the practice. A written thesis locating Cultural Warriors in a theoretical of performed identity, power and the affect contained in arts activity.Arts and Humanities Research Council PhD studentshi

The Creature in the Corner: A Methodology for Teaching Reflexivity

The 2018 Reflective Conservatoire Conference will consider how artists, arts organisations, and specialist higher education in the performing arts in particular, can and are already engaging with artistic citizenship within contemporary societies. What are the possibilities for practitioners individually and collectively? How is specialist higher education changing in response to this agenda; what are the implications and opportunities for organisational development and leadership

Research is needed to inform environmental management of hydrothermally inactive and extinct polymetallic sulfide (PMS) deposits

Polymetallic sulfide (PMS) deposits produced at hydrothermal vents in the deep sea are of potential interest to miners. Hydrothermally active sulfide ecosystems are valued for the extraordinary chemosynthetic communities that they support. Many countries, including Canada, Portugal, and the United States, protect vent ecosystems in their Exclusive Economic Zones. When hydrothermal activity ceases temporarily (dormancy) or permanently (extinction), the habitat and associated ecosystem change dramatically. Until recently, so-called "inactive sulfide" habitats, either dormant or extinct, received little attention from biologists. However, the need for environmental management of deep-sea mining places new imperatives for building scientific understanding of the structure and function of inactive PMS deposits. This paper calls for actions of the scientific community and the emergent seabed mining industry to i) undertake fundamental ecological descriptions and study of ecosystem functions and services associated with hydrothermally inactive PMS deposits, ii) evaluate potential environmental risks to ecosystems of inactive PMS deposits through research, and iii) identify environmental management needs that may enable mining of inactive PMS deposits. Mining of some extinct PMS deposits may have reduced environmental risk compared to other seabed mining activities, but this must be validated through scientific research on a case-by-case basis.FCT: IF/00029/2014/CP1230/CT0002/ UID/05634/2020/ CEECIND005262017/ UID/MAR/00350/2019; Direcao-Geral de Politica do Mar (DGPM) Mining2/2017/005/ Mining2/2017/001info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Potential mitigation and restoration actions in ecosystems impacted by seabed mining

Mining impacts will affect local populations to different degrees. Impacts range from removal of habitats and possible energy sources to pollution and smaller-scale alterations in local habitats that, depending on the degree of disturbance, can lead to extinction of local communities. While there is a shortage or even lack of studies investigating impacts that resemble those caused by actual mining activity, the information available on the potential long-lasting impacts of seabed mining emphasise the need for effective environmental management plans. These plans should include efforts to mitigate deep-sea mining impact such as avoidance, minimisation and potentially restoration actions, to maintain or encourage reinstatement of a resilient ecosystem. A wide range of mitigation and restoration actions for deep-sea ecosystems at risk were addressed. From an ecological point of view, the designation of set-aside areas (refuges) is of utmost importance as it appears to be the most comprehensive and precautionary approach, both for well-known and lesser studied areas. Other actions range from the deployment of artificial substrates to enhance faunal colonisation and survival to habitat recreation, artificial eutrophication, but also spatial and temporal management of mining operations, as well as optimising mining machine construction to minimise plume size on the sea floor, toxicity of the return plume and sediment compression. No single action will suffice to allow an ecosystem to recover, instead combined mitigation/restoration actions need to be considered, which will depend on the specific characteristics of the different mining habitats and the resources hosted (polymetallic sulphides, polymetallic nodules and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts). However, there is a lack of practical experience regarding mitigation and restoration actions following mining impacts, which severely hamper their predictability and estimation of their possible effect and success. We propose an extensive list of actions that could be considered as recommendations for best environmental practice. The list is not restricted and, depending on the characteristics of the site, additional actions can be considered. For all actions presented here, further research is necessary to fully encompass their potential and contribution to possible mitigation or restoration of the ecosystem.CT SFRH/BPD/110278/2015 IF/00029/2014/CP1230/CT0002 UID/MAR/00350/2013 EU Horizon 2020 project Marine Ecosystem Restoration in Changing European Seas (MERCES) 689518 PO ACORES 2020 project Acores-01-0145-Feder-000054_RECOinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

The Verbatim Formula (REF 2021 Practice Research Submission)

The Verbatim Formula (TVF) is a multi-component practice research project comprising a book chapter, journal article, website and video animation, with accompanying contextual documentation. The project is led collaboratively by myself, Dr Sylvan Baker, a lecturer at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Associate Director at People’s Palace Projects, alongside Dr Maggie Inchley and Dr Sadhvi Dar at Queen Mary University of London and freelance artist Mita Pujara. TVF uses verbatim theatre techniques to better understand the experiences of care-experienced young people in terms of exclusion and marginalisation in Higher Education and their lived experience of the care system. TVF’s aim is to encourage care and Higher Education professionals and other key stakeholders to listen to care-experienced young people, and to reconsider and realign their services in relation to the needs of their care-experienced users. Within applied theatre practice, TVF innovates verbatim theatre techniques combined with headphone performance to elicit affective responses in audiences and to facilitate listening and dialogue. The care-experienced young people are co-researchers in the practice, and performances based on their verbatim testimony are used in service-provider and stakeholder settings to initiate dialogue and provide training. TVF has developed the ‘Portable Testimony Service’, where pop-up performances, drawn from a ‘living archive’ of over 150 testimonies of care-experienced young people and adult professionals, are delivered in relevant stakeholder contexts. To ensure the practice remains responsive to the young people and to key stakeholders, evaluation is embedded. TVF has been disseminated in a journal article; a book chapter; and workshops, seminars, presentations and conferences. Through performances (total audiences 750) and training events (total attending 160), the project website, a video animation explaining the methodology and artistic outputs, such as zines, an exhibition and accompanying brochure, the research has been shared widely with publics and key stakeholders

Blacademic Presentation

A powerpoint presentation for MA Performing Research 2018 looking at the challenges facing Academics of Colou

Verbatim Practice as Research with Care-Experienced Young People: An ‘Aesthetics of Care’ Through Aural Attention

This chapter reflects on an interdisciplinary practice research project, The Verbatim Formula (TVF), based at Queen Mary University of London, consisting of a series of residential workshops with care-experienced young people using verbatim theatre practices. Drawing on feminist care ethicist Nel Noddings’ analogy between aesthetic engagement and the art of caring, the authors reflect on the shared values and aesthetics of acts of care and participatory practices, and how these inhere in the attentiveneness, attunement and receptivity involved in performing and receiving verbatim material using headphone theatre technique. The chapter incorporates testimonies from its care-experienced co-researchers and draws on Joan Tronto’s argument that there is a radical need for an intervention into the dynamics of power in society that ensure that those for whom the structures of care are least effective are heard and attended to. In acknowledging the ‘ugliness’ of caring and the ongoing labour of attunement, listening emerges in TVF both as an aesthetic but also as a care-based participatory and political practice, that aims to empower care-experienced young people to intervene in the structures that represent them and to support adults to honour their experiences and needs