Your City Your Voice Belfast, Community Consultation for Quality of Life Local Project Report, Belfast:Urban Rooms, Public Engagement Pilot: 2 Royal Avenue, September 2022

Local Belfast-pilot focused report on the Your City Your Voice Belfast (YCYVB) Urban Room; consultation research that included a month-long public pilot in Belfast during September 2022 as part of Community Consultation for Quality of Life (CCQOL), an Arts & Humanities Research Council funded UK-wide project, led by University of Reading with Ulster University, Cardiff University, and The University of Edinburgh as Co-Investigators. CCQOL as a collaborative international partnership project seeks to develop new map-based models of community consultation (as more effective, early engagement); face-to-face and digital places for people to share their views more easily and safely about what they value in their local area, to help improve quality of life for everyone.Together with an Inclusive Toolkit, created by the CCQOL team with project partner Urban Symbiotics, the YCYVB research aimed to create opportunities to better assess social and environmental value through collective and co-created knowledge with “quality-of-life” as a central and positive approach to:• Promote a holistic view of land use, using maps and open data for more democratic decision-making in planning.• Develop best practice guidelines for community consultation and engagement; to widen participation to, for example, tackle social justice and liveability issues.CCQOL pilots in each UK region were created as opportunities for local people to share their own feelings about what they value in their city and neighbourhood areas. Each pilot used bespoke digital maps to measure and assess how people viewed and were consulted about local changes and what aspects of their neighbourhood and/or city they valued – seeking to engage with positive discussions based on social and environmental value through Quality-of-Life mapping, rather than more negative-comment-driven approaches. This report captures the events, reflections, lessons and initial recommendations from the pilot project, which are supplemented by final project recommendations and literature in a National Report from December 2023

Youth in the UK and Greece: young Homeless People and the Meanings of Youth

Deals with the ways in which "youth" is being socially constructed in Great Britain and Greece. Interviews with key informants and young homeless people; Themes of dependence and independence, power and powerlessness, youth as a positive power and youth as "danger"; Juxtapositions and dichotomies that characterize the conceptualization of youth in both societies; Curtailment of youth's citizenship status

‘Through no fault of their own’: Social work students’ use of language to construct ‘service user’ identities

The way social workers discursively construct ‘service user’ identities in everyday interactions (interviews, conversations, text) can affect quality of relationships and practice outcomes. Even though research has focused on the construction of ‘service user’ identities by professionals and service users, little has been done to explore such discursive formulations by pre-qualifying social work students. This is especially relevant, given the strengthening of the ‘expert by experience’ identity in social work education. This paper seeks to make visible mechanisms of student identity constructions as to ‘who a service user is’, and implications for practice through the examination of student written work pre- and post- a module focusing on lived experience. A critical discursive psychology approach was followed, recognising the interplay between localised professional encounters and wider contexts of power relations. The findings show a shift in the ‘service user’ identities employed by the students mainly based on individualistic discourses and deserving/undeserving themes (substance misuse the result of vulnerability, rather than selfishness, domestic abuse narratives denoting resilience rather than victimhood). The effect to practice showed shifts between the reflective, expert, person-centred and critical practitioner, mainly stressing the need for professional growth at an individual level, with less emphasis on addressing social inequality. The paper argues that predominantly individualistic discourses can perpetuate de-politicised or oppressive categorisations of ‘service users’ and calls for further critical engagement with the discursive micro-practices enacted and developed in the social work classroom, if we are to unveil and challenge narrow, or stigmatising categorisations early on

«Η συμβολή των υπαγόμενων στον Πρωθυπουργό υπηρεσιών στη λήψη αποφάσεων και στη διαμόρφωση της δημόσιας πολιτικής»

Η παρούσα εργασία έχει ως θέμα ανάλυσης την συμβολή των υπαγόμενων στον Πρωθυπουργό υπηρεσιών στην διαδικασία λήψης αποφάσεων και στη διαμόρφωση της δημόσιας πολιτικής. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, εξετάζει το περιεχόμενο της έννοιας του Κέντρου διακυβέρνησης σε άμεση σύνδεση με τον συντονισμό, ενώ παράλληλα αναλύεται και η έννοια της επιτελικότητας στη διακυβέρνηση. Αναφορικά με τις έννοιες του Κέντρου διακυβέρνησης και του συντονισμού παρατίθενται πληθώρα ορισμών με διαφορετική οπτική γωνία. Αναλύοντας το Κέντρο διακυβέρνησης, διερευνώνται τα στοιχεία που το συναποτελούν και συγκεκριμένα, οι υπηρεσίες που υπάγονται απευθείας στον Πρωθυπουργό. Αναφερόμενοι σε αυτές, γίνεται λόγος για την μετεξέλιξη, τη διάρθρωση και τις βασικές λειτουργίες που επιτελούν. Επιπροσθέτως, όσον αφορά τις λειτουργίες τους, το ενδιαφέρον εστιάζεται κυρίως στο ρόλο και τη συμβολή τους στη λήψη αποφάσεων και τον σχεδιασμό του κυβερνητικού προγράμματος. Μάλιστα, γι’ αυτό το λόγο παρατίθενται και οι αλλαγές που επήλθαν με τον νέο νόμο για το επιτελικό κράτος. Οι αλλαγές αυτές εστιάζουν στις υπηρεσίες του Πρωθυπουργού και τις τροποποιήσεις που επήλθαν συγκριτικά με το παρελθόν. Εν κατακλείδι, δίδεται έμφαση σε ορισμένες παθογένειες που εξακολουθούν να εμφανίζονται στο Κέντρο διακυβέρνησης και διατυπώνονται προτάσεις προς αντιμετώπιση των εν λόγω παθογενειών.The purpose of this paper is to analyze the contribution of the Prime Minister's services to the decision-making process and public policymaking. More specifically, it examines the content of the term Core executive or Centre of Governance (CoG) directly linked to coordination and while at the same time analyzing the term of the executive state and the new governance model. With regard to the terms of Centre of Governance (CoG) and coordination, in the paper, we would find numerous definitions with different perspectives. Analyzing, the Centre of Governance (CoG) is examined the elements that comprise it and specifically the services at the Prime Minister. Referring to them, it is studied the evolution, structure and basic functions which they perform. In addition, concerning their functions, the focus is mainly on their role and contribution to the decision-making process and the planning of the governmental program. Furthermore, this is the reason why the changes that have been made with the new law regarding the executive state, are also listed. These changes focus on the services of the Prime Minister and the amendments that have been made, compared to the past. In conclusion, the text gives emphasis to some of the dysfunctions that continue to appear in the Centre of Governance and also proposals are made in order to address these dysfunctions

PET imaging in breast cancer

The application of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) using 2-[F18] fluoro-2-deoxy- D-Glucose (FDG) and the more recently fused technique of Computerized Tomography and PET (PET/CT) in patients with breast cancer is reviewed. Their role in diagnosis of primary tumour, staging, chemotherapy monitoring and radiotherapy planning, follow-up and restaging is introduced. The advantages of combination of anatomical and functional images are emphasized and the comparison with other imaging techniques is highlighted

Playing its part: An evaluation of professional skill development through service user-led role-plays for social work students

This paper presents the findings of a UK-based evaluation of service user-led role-play interviews for social work students. Skill development relating to ‘procedural competencies’ (relationship forming, communication skills) and ‘meta-competencies’ (linking theory to practice, reflection) is specifically explored using a mixed-method repeated-measures design. Assessment feedback from student self-ratings (N=32), as well as service user (N=7) and practice educator (N=4) ratings was compared at two timepoints. An overall improvement of the students’ professional skills was identified, with a notable divergence regarding what had improved: the students focused on procedural skills, practice educators on cognitive skills, whereas service users focused on relational/embodied aspects of professional skills. Moreover, what counted as ‘improvement’ varied between the groups: when considering ‘problem-solving’ students and practice educators were emphasising the importance of taking time and not rushing to resolutions, whereas service users were praising students who were proactive and solution-focused. The findings assert the value of service user-led educational activities not only as contributing to the improvement of social work students’ skill development, but also as providing a perspective that may challenge the dominance of professional narratives in social work education. The findings have specific implications for curriculum development and evaluation of service user-led activities