The Road to Partnership: a Stepwise, Iterative Approach to Organisational Collaboration in RDM, Archives and Records Management

Research data management (RDM) sits at the confluence of a number of related roles. The shape an RDM confluence takes depends on several factors including the nature of an organisation and the research that it undertakes. At St George’s, University of London, the UK’s only university dedicated to medical and health sciences education, training and research, RDM has been intricately interwoven with organisational information governance roles since its inception. RDM is represented on our institutional Information Governance Steering Group and our Information Management Team consisting of information governance, data protection, freedom of information, archives, records management and RDM. This paper reports on how RDM, archives and records management have collaborated using a step-wise, iterative process to streamline and harmonise our guidance and workflows in relation to the stewardship, curation and preservation of research data. As part of this we consistently develop, conduct and evaluate small projects on managing, curating and preserving data. We present three projects that we collaborated on to transform research data services across each of our departments: planning for, conducting and reporting on interviews with wet laboratory researchers advocating, building a case for and delivering a university-wide digital preservation system ongoing work to recover, preserve and facilitate access to a unique national health database Learnings from these projects are used to develop our guidance, improve our activities and integrate our workflows, the outcomes of which may be further evaluated. Learnings are also used to improve our ways of working together. Through deeper integration of our activities and workflows, rather than simply aligning aspects of our work, we are increasingly becoming partners on research data stewardship, curation and preservation. This approach offers several benefits to the organisation as it allows us to build on our related knowledge and skills and deliver outcomes that demonstrate greater value to the organisation and the researchers we support

Dietitian perceptions of low-calorie sweeteners

Background: Lowering energy (calorie) intake is essential in managing a healthy weight. One method of doing this is substituting sugar with low/no-calorie sweeteners. The safety of sweeteners has been debated, but little is known about how they are perceived by professionals responsible for weight management advice. We sought to explore dietitian perceptions of sweeteners and to identify the practical advice they provide about them

Integrating mobile technology with routine dietetic practice:The case of myPace for weight management

The field of Mobile health (mHealth), which includes mobile phone applications (apps), is growing rapidly and has the potential to transform healthcare by increasing its quality and efficiency. The present paper focuses particularly on mobile technology for body weight management, including mobile phone apps for weight loss and the available evidence on their effectiveness. Translation of behaviour change theory into weight management strategies, including integration in mobile technology is also discussed. Moreover, the paper presents and discusses the myPace platform as a case in point. There is little clinical evidence on the effectiveness of currently available mobile phone apps in enabling behaviour change and improving health-related outcomes, including sustained body weight loss. Moreover, it is unclear to what extent these apps have been developed in collaboration with health professionals, such as dietitians, and the extent to which apps draw on and operationalise behaviour change techniques has not been explored. Furthermore, presently weight management apps are not built for use as part of dietetic practice, or indeed healthcare more widely, where face-to-face engagement is fundamental for instituting the building blocks for sustained lifestyle change. myPace is an innovative mobile technology for weight management meant to be embedded into and to enhance dietetic practice. Developed out of systematic, iterative stages of engagement with dietitians and consumers, it is uniquely designed to complement and support the trusted health practitioner–patient relationship. Future mHealth technology would benefit if engagement with health professionals and/or targeted patient groups, and behaviour change theory stood as the basis for technology development. Particularly, integrating technology into routine health care practice, rather than replacing one with the other, could be the way forward.</jats:p

Ashes col' darg lay dong: Trinidadian students' response to the UK

This research investigates how Trinidadian students in the United Kingdom (UK) respond to their new environment. The research explores and conceptualises the participants? experiences in the UK. It investigates Trinidadian student adjustment in the UK from a postcolonial perspective. To acquire data on Trinidadian experiences in the UK I created a private, password-protected group blog (interactive webpage) where eight respondents interacted and shared aspects of their everyday life and experiences over six months. After the blogging period follow-up face-to-face individual interviews were conducted with five of the eight participants. The research design was formulated so that the two methods would work together to paint a vivid, multidimensional and dynamic picture of the participants? experiences. These two techniques together are referred to as the blog-interview method. The experiences of three of the participants were captured as in-depth case studies. Grounded Theory was used to analyze the data and generate a working theory of the participants? experiences. A theory of adjustment, called (dis)juncture, was developed. The theory views the students? adjustment as a continuous process of negotiation among simultaneous connecting and disconnecting forces. This can create a student who is a synergy of global experiences, signifying systems, representations, identities, worldviews and perspectives that are not exclusively in one domain: they are hybrid. Unlike much work in this area, (dis)juncture does not view adjustment in stages nor does it assume that adjustment is something that can be achieved. Adjustment is advanced as a process of continuous transformation as a result of constant contact with multiple signifying systems simultaneously. (Dis)Juncture breaks important ground in the field by reconceptualising and re-imaging the process of international student adjustment. The theory thus makes a significant contribution to research on international student experience

Ashes col' darg lay dong : Trinidadian students' response to the UK

This research investigates how Trinidadian students in the United Kingdom (UK) respond to their new environment. The research explores and conceptualises the participants' experiences in the UK. It investigates Trinidadian student adjustment in the UK from a postcolonial perspective. To acquire data on Trinidadian experiences in the UK I created a private, password-protected group blog (interactive webpage) where eight respondents interacted and shared aspects of their everyday life and experiences over six months. After the blogging period follow-up face-to-face individual interviews were conducted with five of the eight participants. The research design was formulated so that the two methods would work together to paint a vivid, multidimensional and dynamic picture of the participants' experiences. These two techniques together are referred to as the blog-interview method. The experiences of three of the participants were captured as in-depth case studies. Grounded Theory was used to analyze the data and generate a working theory of the participants' experiences. A theory of adjustment, called (dis)juncture, was developed. The theory views the students' adjustment as a continuous process of negotiation among simultaneous connecting and disconnecting forces. This can create a student who is a synergy of global experiences, signifying systems, representations, identities, worldviews and perspectives that are not exclusively in one domain: they are hybrid. Unlike much work in this area, (dis)juncture does not view adjustment in stages nor does it assume that adjustment is something that can be achieved. Adjustment is advanced as a process of continuous transformation as a result of constant contact with multiple signifying systems simultaneously. (Dis)Juncture breaks important ground in the field by reconceptualising and re-imaging the process of international student adjustment. The theory thus makes a significant contribution to research on international student experiencesEThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Using blogs in qualitative educational research: an exploration of method

When compared with wider social research, qualitative educational research has been relatively slow to take up online research methods (ORMs). There is some very notable research in the area but, in general, ORMs have not achieved wide applicability in qualitative educational contexts apart from research that is inherently linked to the Internet, for example, research on educational technologies or students' online behaviour. This paper demonstrates how ORMs can be useful in qualitative research projects. It describes how on-going, reflective, qualitative data were collected using a popular, community-based online tool – blogs. The research project that utilized this approach aimed to trace how a group of international students in the United Kingdom responded to their new environment over six months. This article attempts to provide a new understanding on the use of blogs as a tool for data collection