Biosocial Walking (2023)
VREF - Principle Investigator
In ‘an age of migration’, feeling like one belongs has become paramount amid a highly mobile and globalised society – how can everyone feel at ‘home’ if home is not their country of origin? Walking, as a mode of transport, has been shown to stimulate a sense of belonging; yet the practice of walking in everyday urban life for international migrants, and how it shapes a sense of belonging is seldom explored. Biosocial Walking will address this gap, by developing and employing a biosocial understanding of the everyday walking experiences of migrants from the global south in different urban contexts in the global north. In doing so, this project will unpack both the biological and social experiences of walking to provide an innovative and holistic understanding of migrants’ experiences, needs and the challenges they face walking in a new urban area.
This project will adopt an interdisciplinary mixed-methods approach consisting of wearable biosensors, a smartphone application and walking interviews to capture a combination of biological and social experiences of urban walking. By synthesising these approaches, Biosocial Walking will uncover new understandings of the walking experiences and will advance existing work in the field by connecting walking with emotions in migration studies, thus embedding the practice of walking in broader discussions of post-migration urban living. Additionally, the project will generate new insights into mobility practices, sense of place, and the experiences of migrants from the global south who are not necessarily dominant in policy discourses of urban policy and active transport.
Interviewing in the Metaverse (2022)
This project investigated the practicalities of undertaking social science interviews within social VR platforms. Sometimes referred to as the ‘metaverse’, social VR allows groups of people to meet, interact and chat in a 3D rendered digital environment. The metaverse is currently being championed by tech companies as the future of social interaction for both work and leisure, particularly when people can’t be in the same room at the same time.
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To date, there has been little work looking at the potential of social VR platforms for undertaking qualitative social science interviewing compared to, for example, conducting interviews by telephone or over Zoom. The purpose of the project was to give students experience of conducting interviews within social VR and then to ask for their reflections about how well the platform works for undertaking social science research. Students from the University of Groningen, Swansea University, University of Birmingham and Adam Mickiewicz University were paired and asked to take turns interviewing each other within a social VR platform about the student experience in their respective universities. This was followed by a short conventional interview with a member of the research team to gather their reflections about the practicalities of conducting interviews in VR.
Mobility is a significant driver for ageing people’s health and well-being. Gerontological research highlights the role outdoor mobility plays in active ageing. However, physical and cognitive handicaps limit the mobility of many older people. The EU-funded MeaningfulMobility project will approach the problem comprehensively, using the capability approach to study movement experiences in ageing people, both healthy and impaired. It will conduct an in-depth comparative study on three categories of aged people: healthy adults, stroke survivors and adults diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer’s. The study will be conducted in the Netherlands, the UK and India. The project will transform gerontological research, focusing on the relationship between mobility, health and well-being in ageing people.
Mobility or physical movement contributes to health and well-being in later life and is a key issue in gerontological research. Most studies have focused on the contribution of outdoor mobility to active ageing, but physical and cognitive impairments restrict the mobility of many older adults. MeaningfulMobility will take a more comprehensive approach than previous research. It will be the first to connect the capability approach to mobility research to study diversity in movement within and between places by healthy and impaired older adults.
MeaningfulMobility aims to develop and employ an integrative approach to explain mobility practices in later life in relation to well-being. The research objectives are:
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To compare objectively measured mobility patterns of older adults within and between places, and between impaired and healthy older adults in three socio-cultural contexts
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To conduct an in-depth study of the subjective mobility experiences within and between places of impaired and healthy older adults, in three socio-cultural contexts;
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To use these insights to connect mobility research with the capability approach to gain comprehensive understanding of the diversity in mobility practices in later life in relation to well-being.