30 June 2022
Things I have been working on
- More interviews… chasing, doing, transcribing, editing for clarity, analysing.
- Presenting emerging findings to the wider partnership. Getting feedback on how to contextualise some of the most useful insights.
- Saying no to things, especially new work. Now it’s the time to focus on getting everything done and having a summer break.
Things I have been reading/ listening to
- Nothing! We are extracting data for the Evidence Review and my eyes just don’t want to read. I have just been listening to music.
- In particular, seeing the amazing Ibrahim Maalouf…
17 June 2022
Things I have been working on
- Interviews, interviews, more interviews.
- Talking to the great team at Future Yard about their community consultation and how they can best represent the findings in a summary report.
- Supporting the Voice of Domestic Workers with planning a new recruitment round.
Things I have been reading/ listening to
- MobLab’s reflections on hope (in their newsletter) - they shared Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua’s new website on centering hope in the climate crisis. It’s full of articles (like Ten ways to confront the climate crisis without losing hope)
10 June 2022
Things I have been working on
- Reviewing evidence, working with colleagues to unpick messiness. We presented a summary of the emerging findings from the Evidence Review of social capital to the Consultation Group of experts. We had very interesting conversations about how two of the outcomes (social cohesion and belonging) are generally understood and measured consistently, whereas social support is a lot more messy. Lots of learning, lots more to do.
- Interviewing people about barriers to engaging with the apprenticeships system.
- Planning projects, setting up interviews - this is a month for conversations.
- Thinking a lot about how I am lucky to work with some exceptional people who inspire me but I can also be honest with. The consultation group this week was hard and we needed to make some big decisions/ respond to some feedback. It was good to be in team where I felt able to say “this conversation covered a lot, I can’t think right now- we’ll come back on this” (and then be able to literally crash for a few hours before picking back up with the team).
Things I have been reading/ listening to
- Border Nation: A Story of Migration by Leah Cowan.
- I have started Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi.
- Vittles on land ownership, elite networks as seen through grouse hunting (& eating)
27 May 2022
Things I did this week
- It’s been full on the last two weeks screening over 2300 articles for the Social Capital Evidence Review. We’re down to the last few hundred, which we had listed as “maybe” whilst we checked in as a wider team about how we are conceptualising social support. It is often used as a means of achieving other outcomes in social projects, and there seems to be less interest in it as a valuable end in of itself. But each stage of decisions creates useful learning and reflection for the research outputs and recommendations for future exploration.
- I had a bad week of insomnia. It affected everything, especially my concentration. So I feel like I have just been keeping my head above the surface.
- I have started interviewing teachers and education staff about their participation in wellbeing related projects. It’s fascinating and inspiring. Looking forward to doing more in the coming weeks.
Things I have been reading/ listening to
- This article about farming, collaboration, nature and cheese. Read alongside English Pastoral, there’s clear themes about the nature of support we need to give farmers, redefinitions of what nature means in relation to humans and the focused steps we can take to get back to something more in balance.
- Irish mythology (also rooted in nature, there’s a theme here…) and mental health, via the Blindboy Podcast.
- Roxanne Gay’s commencement speech for the School of Visual Arts 2022 (for paid subscribers of The Audacity). She describes the pain and injustice of recent legislative changes in the US around abortion, and how the artistic community has responded. She then talks about the beauty of life all around and ends with a challenge to the educational community about what world they want to see and how we bridge the gap between vision and reality, without resting on blind “hope”.
15 May 2022
Things I did this week
- Used a quiet Monday morning to write up the main themes about apprenticeships. It was nice to get going before everyone woke up and started work in the UK.
- Remotely attended a Theory of Change workshop. I was the only person not in the room but it was helpful in terms of listening to the conversations and hearing how people perceive the work.
- We started the full searches for the Social Capital Evidence Review so myself and another researcher have been removing duplicates, scanning abstracts to see if they meet our criteria. A colleague recommended Rayyan.ai as free software which will help. It’s exactly what we need and a great example of how wholly online,(free!) or monthly based subscription software is perfect for project based work.
- Caught up with colleagues about next steps of the projects I am working on. It’s just about all on time. And that’s perfect.
Things I have been reading/ listening to
- The Weekly Economics Podcast this week was about how Covid-19 revealed the politics that is embedded in our economy.
- I started reading English Pastoral, by James Rebanks. A reflection on land, farming, heritage, community. It’s beautifully written and enjoyable, despite touching on deep reflections on life and futures.
- This lovely article about a bus ride you can take in County Clare.
- Some of the conversations in the theory of change workshop reminded me that I need to go back to and listen to Adrienne Marie Brown’s Emergent Strategy audiobook. Maybe for the weekend by the sea...
- This article about formats for events (virtual, in person, hybrid) - basically there’s pros and cons to each format but we should be clear on why we select a certain format and how it fits with the purpose of convening in the first place. Hybrid events can help as part of a process - but only if you think about how to “divide up tasks and interactions between the formats in an optimal way”.
6 May 2022
Things I did this week
- Not as much as I planned. Life, admin got in the way. It’s fine - next week is another week.
- I’m in the midst of qualitative data from three different projects at the moment and it’s exciting, interesting but really tiring. I’ve been trying to keep blocks of time to immerse myself in the different things but then jumping between them and problem solving for projects (and some life admin) really pushed me back. Coupled with a few bad night’s sleep, I’m planning to catch up with whatever I can on Sunday afternoon to set next week up well. It’s hard when you belong to a few teams to keep all the plates spinning so this is my way of trying to manage my energy.
- Added the transcripts from interviews with providers in Gloucestershire into a summary form and then wrote a summary of the highlights for my colleagues to present back in a workshop on Monday.
- Reviewed the interviews about apprenticeships and tried to summarise the main themes. I think it’s formed in my head but I need some time to get in down concisely.
- Analysed a baseline survey of school leaders and thought how best to present a summary to inform ongoing learning for the team
- A friend asked me to help with the English voiceover for a short video. It was a nice change of scene to be in an editing suite and hopefully they got what they needed.
Things I have been reading / listening to
- I finally finished Poverty Safari this week but haven’t had much time to read anything other than the news. Although logging out of Twitter for a few weeks has helped my sanity.
- A few books I’d ordered from the wonderful Lexikopoleio arrived - they do orders for English and French books once a month. One was a leaving present for a friend / collaborator who will be much missed when she leaves Athens next week. The others are intended to entice me away from social media.
29 April 2022
Things I did this week
- Had a really productive meeting with the Consultation Group for the Rapid Evidence Review, discussing where we might want to make tweaks to the search to capture relevant learning. We’ve now finished the scoping phase and will start the searches proper next week. Spent more time than originally envisaged on this part, but hopefully it will make for a more focused and efficient follow on stage.
- Finished the first phase of interviews for the research on apprenticeships. Really enjoyable conversations and now I need to make space to sit with the transcriptions and work through the common themes.
- Admin- the joys of self employment. Tax return filed, currently waiting patiently in the Microsoft support system. Thank god for BBC 6Music.
22 April 2022
Things I did this week
- Shared the results of the test searches for the rapid evidence review with the wider team. Next week we're meeting with the wider Consultation Group of people from research and frontline organisations to make some final decisions for the research process. It’s been great to have the time to do this in depth. So often projects are rushed at the start and you have to pivot as you go. We’ve been finding, documenting and resolving challenges before we start. It’s really refreshing!
- Started interviewing stakeholders for the research on apprenticeships. Already starting to see some interesting themes to pick up in further interviews.
- Wrote a summary of the interviews for the Voice of Domestic Workers strategy process. I can't be at the Board Meeting tomorrow so made the best of PowerPoint's recording tool so they can play a video of me instead. Looking forward to hearing what comes out of the discussions.
- Spent a lot of time fighting with Microsoft teams access for one of the projects I'm working on.
Things I have been reading / listening to
- Poverty Safari by Darren McGarvey.
- Various groups examples of resistance: civil servants in the Home Office against plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda; New York Public Libraries against banned books.
15 April 2022
Things I did this week
- For the rapid evidence review on social capital, we continue to test searches, refine ideas and try to come up with a workable plan for the actual searching and reviewing of evidence. I am leading the review and finding it hard as I know the others I am working with are much more skilled in research approaches - trying to learn, push myself and also keep the work on track.
- The music venue I have been working with has been running various forms of community consultation. I spent a very happy afternoon pulling out some of the key findings and advising on what they can do with their final activities for this work. The core of what they are asking is about barriers to accessing live music and cultural events, but also getting people to reflect on the role of music in their lives. What does music mean to you?
- Picked up some things from my ceramics class. Definitely one of the best investments to help me relax and find flow.
Things I have been reading/ listening to
- Feminist City - a book about how public spaces and communities are not designed for women. One of the most interesting chapters is about the role of personal relationships, friendships in women’s lives and imagined futures (as well as in other communities who have long resisted the nuclear family model). There’s some great reflections on what we could achieve in communities if we designed spaces for developing and maintaining these personal connections that make us happy, catch us when we fall and allow us to grow and age with others. Certainly a conversation I have with my friends but this book challenges us to move past privatised ways in which we can create such spaces and think about how we do this more equitably.
- Derry Girls is back.
Reflections on reflections
I haven’t used a journal since university, it hasn’t felt like something that was needed in my life. But when I rebuilt my website, I was thinking about how the summary of my work and projects felt flat. It felt like less than what I feel I have achieved and the amount of interesting and creative thoughts and ideas and resources that I come across on a day to day basis. As did my experience of working alone for so long and not always having someone to check in with. Making time to write these updates has been more enjoyable than I expected.
A few months ago, an acquaintance asked me to do a small search on the role of ritual at work and was a timely reminder of the reasons that within organisations and work it’s helpful to put aside time for reflection, for celebration and to mark the passing of different chapters. It’s probably what started this process. I’m glad I am making time each week to look back at what I have done, how I have felt and interesting things I have found on the way. Even looking back at something that was causing me a little stress a month or so ago is a good reminder of how - in the moment - things can feel overwhelming but they tend to pass. I have 15 years of experience now, I have learnt a lot from my mistakes, know my strengths and am much better at responding proportionally to the level of challenge.
8 April 2022
Things I did this week
- I am going to be contributing to a new research project on apprenticeships so I spent some time reading up on the current policies and practices in the UK.
- With Centre for Thriving Places, I am contributing to a project on supporting a network of community-led organisations to evidence the work they are doing from a wellbeing economy perspective. We’re in the scoping stage which involves a lot of questions and trying to pin point exactly what they are trying to achieve so we can help them to measure it. It’s a bit messy but a really great group of people and I am looking forward to seeing what comes out of it.
- We are also starting a rapid evidence review around social capital so this week we kicked off with the team at What Works Wellbeing to unpick some of the conceptual challenges. I then worked with two amazing researchers to test different searches in academic databases. I am definitely more of a broad brush person - so it’s great to work with people who are really excellent at detail.
- I’ve nearly finished all my interviews for the first stage of the new strategy process for VODW- now to sift through mounds of notes to feedback the summary to the board.
- My Greek class this week was about cohabitation. Doesn’t matter the country, dirty plates are a universal problem.
Things I have been reading/ listening to
- I put Noughts and Crosses on pause after a chapter on a terrorist attack which feels foreboding for the characters and will come back to it in the daytime.
- This podcast on the supply chain behind sugar.
- We started a new anthology in my book club. The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working-Class Voices. I bought my parents a contribution to this for Christmas as I really loved Common People which preceded (more England focused). And just generally I enjoy contributing to crowd sourced projects that support new forms of writing and publication.
1 April 2022
Things I did this week
- I came back from two weeks of seeing family and friends in the UK. A good opportunity to catch up, catch a breath and take stock. I feel ready to get started with some new projects.
- I’ve spoken to a lot of the Trustees and other people involved with the Voice of Domestic Workers as part of the strategy review. It’s such a privilege to be welcomed back into the community and have such conversations. Lots of musings about possibilities for long-term organising, and managing to deliver support to women who are deeply precarious in caring and safe ways. I spent Sunday morning catching up in person and ended up in Wembley watching radical cinema from Lebanon. Sometimes the best days come from following the flow...
- I helped to deliver my first in-person workshop for a new project in Gloucestershire. Unfortunately the train was two hours late so I missed most of it... but the group and energy was so good that I managed to pick up some important stuff. Props to the team on the GWR train who looked after us so well.
- Overarching plans for projects for the coming months. Making sure I haven’t overcommitted, identifying crunch points (summer, basically) and where I need to plan in downtime. Lots to do, lots to learn.
Things I have been reading/ listening to
- Mostly non-work stuff: Blindboy Podcast, Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman, This is Going to Hurt. Although this is mostly fiction, there’s a lot to reflect on in terms of organisations and leadership, racism and othering. Culture is a powerful teacher.
- Food writing is a good place to find deep reflections on entrenched societal issues, but also people thinking about how we need to reframe our aspirations. This is a great Tweet and an article I’ve added to the (very long) list of things that would be good to read. (aka all the articles from Vittles from this season on food production)