Friday 13 December 2019

Impact Acceleration Funding bid success for the Un-tiques Roadshow (Tim Buescher)


Do you find yourself arguing with a partner or relative over what to keep and what to let go of? Do you keep things for different reasons? Most of us do, be these reasons of sentimentality, usefulness, or value. Or do you find clutter stressful and intrusive? Perhaps some of these things cause friction between family members. Now a set of interventions is to be offered for these objects to try and help repair the relationships they have with people and that people have with each other.

Tim Buescher has secured funding to carry out a public engagement project about holding on to and letting go of possessions. This will take place in the new year and will involve partnership with Chris Westoby, Hull History Centre, Hull libraries of stuff CIC, Hawley’s antiques, ltd., Anna Bean photography and many other parties.

If you would like to find out more, please contact  Tim .


‘What about me?’ The cross-disciplinary group facilitating writing the self and autoethnography


Chris Westoby, Ros Masamha and Tim Buescher write:

‘What about me?’ was established earlier this year as a space for colleagues interested in writing the self – academically, artistically, therapeutically – to meet, share work and discuss which directions they wish to take their ideas.

Throughout summer we have ran monthly sessions, and it has proven to be a comfortable, inspiring and supportive space to share ideas and reflections concerning writing the self. We saw an attendance from every corner of the university, working in entirely different disciplines, approaching writing the self in different ways, and for different purposes.

Now, we’re excited to continue this momentum and invite any and all academics and post-graduate researchers from every department – whether writing the self/autoethnography is an element of your research, or if it exists outside of it in a separate pursuit or purely personal practice.

Each session will invite a speaker to present their angle on writing, perhaps sharing their unique research methodologies, their personal investment, or the work of an author who inspires their practice. We will have time for group discussions, and most importantly time to write in a safe space. In the first session, Ros Masamha is presenting on Scholarly Personal Narratives: challenging methodologies in academia and academic writing.

With marking rolling in in January, it’s a busy time; taking two hours to focus purely on one’s self is more vital than ever, before needing to focus elsewhere!

Come along on 8th January, 13:00-15:00. The venue is Nidd Boardroom, complete with a selection of biscuits.

Monday 9 December 2019

Predictors of obstetric anal sphincter injury during waterbirth: a secondary analysis of a prospective observational study


Lesley Smith has co-authored:

Ethel Burns, Laura Price, Jane Carpenter1 & Lesley Smith (2019) Predictors of obstetric anal sphincter injury during waterbirth: a secondary analysis of a prospective observational study International Urogynecology Journal doi: 10.1007/s00192-019-04167-6

Friday 29 November 2019

Clinical Psychology student community placements


Trainee clinical psychologists in their first year of training spend six weeks on community psychology placements, considering psychological aspects of social inequality in a community context. Placements were provided by the Time Bank, Emmaus, Alzheimer’s Society, Open Doors, HANA, Department of Work and Pensions, Worklink, Groundwork and Andrew Marvell College. Teaching is set up to support the placement, and consists of formal lectures on topics such as Critical psychology, difference and diversity, and social constructionism. Last Friday the trainees presented their posters to the faculty in the Calder building. They drew out themes of their placements and provided novel perspectives on their experiences to their local colleagues and mentors, as well as their peers and anyone passing through the Calder building during the lunch period. It was a lovely event with a free lunch put on by the trainees to celebrate a positive ending! Thank you to all organisations for providing placements, for all mentors providing support and to all who came to discuss the posters on the day!

Tuesday 26 November 2019

How mothers feel: Validation of a measure of maternal mood

Colin Martin as co-authored:

Emily Savage McGlynn, Colin R. Martin, Maggie Redshaw (2019) How mothers feel: Validation of a measure of maternal mood Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice DOI: 10.1111/jep.13304

Visit by Women with Endometriosis to the University of Hull



On Monday 26 November 2019 representatives from Women with Endometriosis toured the labs with Leah Cooksey, PhD student in Biomedical Sciences, Dr Barbara Guinn, Reader in Biomedical Sciences and Mr Kevin Phillips, Consultant Gynaecologist at Hull University Hospitals Trust and Castle Hill Endometriosis Centre. Our guests heard a talk about the University of Hull and the endometriosis research now being performed as part of the Biomarkers PhD cluster and toured the labs having a chance to see first-hand some of the work we are undertaking. We were joined by Hull Daily Mail and the Roaring Girls and discussed some of the awful and far reaching impacts that endometriosis can have on the 1 in 10 women affected by this disease.

Friday 22 November 2019

The experience of talking about hearing voices with family, friends, and others


Simon Watkins,Anjula Gupta & Christopher Sanderson have published:

The experience of talking about hearing voices with family, friends, and others Psychosis doi: 10.1080/17522439.2019.1690561

Objective: There is evidence to suggest that close social networks and wider social influences have a significant impact on people who hear voices. The aim of this research was to explore people’s experiences of talking about voice hearing with family, friends, and others. Method: Transcribed interviews with five participants, recruited through mental health services, were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: Two superordinate themes, each with multiple subordinate themes, were developed from the interviews: “Who can I talk to about this?”, which explores the way people communicate carefully about their voices to manage their experiences of shame, and “I was shocked by how they responded”, which considers others’ reactions to participants disclosures and the impact this had on the participants. Conclusions: The research findings are compared to the existing literature, limitations of the research are considered, and clinical considerations for supporting people who hear voices are explored.

Conference presentation by Kirtsy Fishburn


Kirsty Fishburn was invited to speak about ‘Prescribing in Mental Health’ and ‘Maintaining Competence in non-medical Prescribing Practice’ at Northamptonshire NHS Foundation Trust at their ‘Making a Difference Non-Medical Prescribing Conference.

Tuesday 19 November 2019

Friday 15 November 2019

Retrospective Medical Record Research: Reflections of A Unsponsored Researcher


Barbara Guinn, Reader in Biomedical Sciences was senior author on a review by recently graduated PhD student, Fidelia Bature, published this week:
Fidelia Bature, Jitka Vsectekova, Dong Pang, Yannis Pappas and Barbara Guinn (2019) Retrospective Medical Record Research: Reflections of A Unsponsored Researcher Biomed J Sci & Tech Res 21(4). BJSTR.MS.ID.003642


The review discusses the difficulties faced by individuals attempting to access primary care data for their studies. The PhD had focused on the identification of patterns in signs and symptoms preceding a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and this review reflects on the experiences of undertaking practice recruitment, issues that arose around access to data and the requirement for stakeholder commitment, with proposals for other similar projects that attempt to undertake similar research.

Wednesday 13 November 2019

Healthcare professionals must communicate with patients and relatives. They must enable informed, realistic and appropriate decisions in end of life pharmacotherapy.

Amanda Lee has published this commentary on:


Morin, L., Wastesson, JW., Laroche, ML., et al. (2019) How many older adults receive drugs of questionable clinical benefit near the end of life? A cohort study. Palliative Medicine. doi: 10.1177/0269216319854013.

in Evidence-Based Nursing

Tuesday 12 November 2019

The CAREGIVERSPRO-MMD Platform as an Online Informational and Social Support Tool for People Living With Memory Problems and Their Carers: An Evaluation of User Engagement, Usability and Usefulness


David Howe, Jonathan Thorpe, Rosie Dunn, Caroline White, Kate Cunnah, Rebecca Platt, Kevon Paulson, Emma Wolverson have published:

The CAREGIVERSPRO-MMD Platform as an Online Informational and Social Support Tool for People Living With Memory Problems and Their Carers: An Evaluation of User Engagement, Usability and Usefulness Journal of Applied Gerontology doi: 10.1177/0733464819885326

This paper was published as part of the CAREGIVERSPRO-MMD project, which was an EU-funded Horizon 2020 project investigating the use and potential benefits of a custom-built social networking and information-sharing website designed for use by people living with dementia/cognitive impairment and their carers. The University of Hull team on this project consisted of staff from clinical psychology, social work, and engineering. This paper analysed the participants’ use of the website, as well as feedback relating to the usefulness and usability of the website.

Monday 11 November 2019

PhD success for Kate Margarson

Kate is pictured in the centre with her supervisors
and examiners, from left to right Barbara Elliott,
Judith Dyson (supervisors),
Moira Graham (internal examiner),
Kate Margarson, Poppy Nash (external examiner,
University of York) and Peter Draper (Chair)
Kate Margarson passed her PhD viva subject to a small number of corrections. Kate’s thesis is titled:

Creating attachment relationships in education (CARE): a grounded theory study of teachers’ and children’s participation in a school-based intervention for mental health. 

Faculty staff in Yangzhou, China

Michelle and Julie with students
Michelle Kennedy, Jennifer Loke and Julie MacDonald have just returned from a visit to Yangzhou, China where they were teaching on our joint undergraduate programme. Roger Watson is currently teaching there and Amanda Lee arrives soon to participate in a conference.
Dinner with Dean and staff

Joint programme plaque

Thursday 7 November 2019

Peter Draper in Egypt

Peter Draper writes:


I recently gave a paper and led a workshop on the topic of nursing competencies, at a conference organized by the Faculty of Nursing of Damanhur University in Egypt.  The university was established about 8 years ago, having formerly been a branch of Alexandria University.  The Faculty of Nursing has a separate building, and a dental faculty is currently being constructed, suggesting that, as in the UK, health embedding itself more securely as a leading feature in the higher education landscape.
The conference was conducted in both Arabic and English.  The opening ceremony was very formal.  I sat next to the Undersecretary for Health and other dignitaries, to assist in making numerous awards (I’m not sure what they were for) to recipients including military nurses, student prizewinners, and members of staff, and I also received two splendid plaques to grace my office!  I began my paper by confessing that I know very little Arabic apart from the traditional greeting ‘Salam Alaikum’ – for which I received a big round of applause and a cheer.

On the second day of my visit I held a 3-hour workshop on competencies in education, and this enabled me to discuss the state of nursing internationally with students and staff.  There is a lot that’s great about nursing education in Egypt.  They have a four-year undergraduate programme, with an additional compulsory internship to embed their students’ professional learning. The nursing research programme is rapidly growing, and I heard some very interesting papers.  However professional life also has its challenges.  The government is currently reducing the size of its payroll and universities are reducing their staffing complement; and as a predominantly female profession, Egyptian nurse colleagues can also find themselves constrained in a male-dominated world.

I was treated like a celebrity throughout my stay.  Students took hundreds of selfies with me, and I signed and stamped almost a thousand certificates.  I am grateful for the hospitality of colleagues (thank you Dr Mohammed, Dr Reem and Dr Reem, and also Dr Doaa) who enabled me to enjoy local Egyptian food, and who drove me safely around.  (Driving in Egypt? That’s another story – buy me a coffee and I’ll tell you about it).  I left after my short trip with a great deal that is of value: a new word in my Arabic vocabulary (shokran), a handsome bust of Tutankhamen (made in China), a deeper understanding of international nursing, and some genuine friendships with amazing colleagues.

I am grateful to Roger Watson, Tracey Heath and Jane Wray who provided additional ideas and materials for my paper and workshop.

Monday 4 November 2019

Mark Gibson joins HM Courts & Tribunals Service


Mark Gibson was recommended and has accepted to join as a lay member of the Humber and South Yorkshire Recruitment Advisory Committee for the appointment and training of magistrates. This will involve occasional work for H.M. Courts and Tribunal Service.

Friday 1 November 2019

Could mandatory vaccinations increase uptake in children?


Helen Sisson has published:

Sisson H (2019) Could mandatory vaccinations increase uptake in children? Practice Nursing doi: 10.12968/pnur.2019.30.11.551

Honorary appointment success of Dr Anand Ahankari


Anand is working on the DEVELOP project funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund allocated to the University of Hull. Dr Pavel Ovseiko based at the University of Oxford is one of the co-investigators on this grant. Following the successful implementation of the DEVELOP phase 1 over 2018-19, Anand was invited to apply for an honorary post as an ‘Academic Visitor’ with the Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford. Prof Mark Hayter who is PI on the DEVELOP project provided support for this appointment along with recommendation by Dr Ovseiko. This will help Anand to strengthen the existing collaboration and will also provide facilitated access for future grant applications, collaborations and networking at Oxford.

An (interpretive) phenomenological analysis of nursing professionals experience of developing a transnational curriculum

Amanda Lee has published:

Lee A (2019) An (interpretive) phenomenological analysis of nursing professionals experience of developing a transnational curriculum Nurse Education Today doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2019.104251

Thursday 31 October 2019

A path analysis on the direct and indirect effects of the unit environment on eating dependence among cognitively impaired nursing home residents


Mark Hayter and Roger Watson have co-authored:

Alvisa Palese, Luca Grassetti, Valentina Bressan, Alessandro Decaro, Tea Kasa, Melania Longobardi, Mark Hayter,  Roger Watson (2019) A path analysis on the direct and indirect effects of the unit environment on eating dependence among cognitively impaired nursing home residents BMC Health Services Research doi: 10.1186/s12913-019-4667-z

PhD sucess Holly Wilkinson


Many congratulations to Dr Holly Wilkinson who passed her PhD viva with no corrections on 30th October. Holly has published a number of papers on the role of metals in wound healing during her very successful MRC Case studentship in the Hardman lab.

New connections between chronic inflammatory disease, blood coagulation and cardiovascular degeneration


A study by Dr Ali Ethaeb in the Biomedical Section has been published in the journal Apoptosis. This study has established an essential connection between the inflammatory response, namely the release of initiator of blood coagulation “Tissue Factor” and the dysfunction of the coronary arterial endothelium. Ali Ethaeb obtained his PhD in 2018 from University of Hull and is currently working as a lecturer in University of Wasit, Republic of Iraq. As part of a larger group of PhD students Ali Ethaeb, Mohammad Mohammad, Sophie Featherby and Yahya Madkhali have studied the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which the elevation of Tissue Factor levels during chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease can cause endothelial cell death and denudation. The study is part of a lesser-extolled research endeavour which has been a long-running scientific program at Biomedical Sciences, spanning almost two decades and producing numerous peer-reviewed publications.

Friday 25 October 2019

Hull Nurse of the Year award


Vicky Hewson had the honour of presenting the Hull Nurse of the Year award 2019 at the Hull Daily Mail Health and Care Awards 2019 to Gilly Macleod on 24 October 2019 read the full story here

University of Hull contribution to the Element of the Week slot on the Andy Comfort Show on Radio Humberside

Andy Comfort
On Mondays’ during this year many staff at the University of Hull have been contributing to the Element of the Week slot on the Andy Comfort Show on Radio Humberside. This is in celebration of it being the International Year of the Periodic Table marking 150 years since Dmitri Mendeleev published his article on the periodic system of organising elements in the Russian Chemical Society. More information about the development of the periodic table can be found here.

The Element of the Week slot airs at 4.15pm each Monday and has included:

OCTOBER

Monday 7th – Dr Chris Armstrong, Teaching Fellow in Physical Chemistry, covered Fluorine

Monday 14th – Holly Wilkinson, PhD Student in Biomedical Science specialising in Wound Healing, covered Manganese

Monday 21st – Dr Barbara Guinn, Reader in Biomedical Sciences, covered Chromium

Monday 28th – Dr David Allsup, Senior Lecturer Haematology, Honorary Consultant Haematologist, will be covering Arsenic (David will hopefully be bringing a patient with him who has used Arsenic during treatment)

NOVEMBER

Monday 4th – Professor Mark Lorch, Professor of Public Engagement and Science Communication, will be covering Barium, Copper, Strontium (triple threat!)

Monday 11th – Jamie Southouse, PhD Student in Chemistry, will be covering Plutonium

Monday 18th – Professor Jeanette Rotchell, Professor in Aquatic Toxicology, will be covering Zinc

Monday 25th – Dr Rebecca Williams, Senior Lecturer in Geology, will be covering…TBC (yet to be decided!)

DECEMBER

Monday 2th – Professor David Bond, Director of Research Environmental Sciences, will be covering Gold

Monday 9th – Dr Isabel Pires, Lecturer in Biomedical Science, will be covering Potassium

Monday 16th – Professor Mark Lorch, Professor of Public Engagement and Science Communication, will be doing a round-up to end the series

The programs can be heard for 26 days after airing here.

Barbara Guinn, Biomedical Sciences attended the International Gynecologic Cancer Society Annual meeting in Rio de Janeiro


Barbara Guinn, Department of Biomedical Sciences, recently attended the International Gynecologic Cancer Society Annual Meeting that was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. An electronic poster entitled ‘A novel biomarker for early stage ovarian cancer, and a new target for immunotherapy’ by Ghazala Khan, Kelly Grayson, Suzanne Brooks, Ken Mills and Barbara Guinn was presented locally. Attendance at the conference has led to networking opportunities including an invitation to speak at the Inaugural Opportunities in Ovarian Cancer medical meeting entitled “New Directions for Translational Research” at the University of Strathclyde Technology and Innovation Centre in January 2020.

Student feedback delivery modes: A qualitative study of student and lecturer views

Author links open overlay panel
Clare Killingback has co-authored:

Clare Killingback, Dawn Drury, Preeti Mahato, Jonathan Williams (2019) Student feedback delivery modes: A qualitative study of student and lecturer views Nurse Education Today doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2019.104237

Wednesday 23 October 2019

NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship (ACF) grant success for Prof. Anthony Maraveyas and Dr. Leonid Nikitenko


Professor Maraveyas and Dr. Nikitenko have been successful in obtaining the NIHR grant to support Academic Clinical Fellowship (ACF) in Clinical Oncology at ST1 under the Cancer Genomics and Bio(medical) informatics theme.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the main research areas of expertise of Professor Maraveyas and his team. This is an exciting opportunity for the Fellow to work on molecular pathways in pancreatic tissue that reflect the early changes during carcinogenesis and translate findings from our in silico and in vitro studies of molecular mechanisms of perineural invasion of pancreatic cancer. Dr. Leonid Nikitenko, Professor Maraveyas and six other academics from the Faculty of Health Sciences pioneered the introduction of a Bioinformatics pipeline/platform in the field of medical genomics in Hull by establishing a Health*GDP-Health Global Data Pipeline for biomedical research and clinical applications, with an interdisciplinary PhD Cluster (three students). The Fellow will therefore have an immediate immersive experience in pancreatic cancer research, and join other early career researchers working in this area, using next generation sequencing (NGS), including RNAseq and whole genome sequencing (WGS) – and bio(medical)informatics analysis. This will provide a project that can lead to a PhD for the ACF. Together with exposure to an on-going NIHR portfolio of multi-centre clinical research, the Fellow will receive comprehensive training and support in becoming a clinical investigator, including through the project in informatics that will guide cancer treatment in the immediate future. The Fellow will gain experience in human cell and cancer biology research, genomic and bio(medical)informatics analysis through this and the wider body of work of the group. The Fellow will be supported to present their research in both national and international conferences.

Non-medical prescribing: Are Nurses and Midwives ready to act as practice assessors?

Andrea Hilton and Kirsty Fishburn have published:

Non-medical prescribing: Are Nurses and Midwives ready to act as practice assessors? Evidence-Based Nursing 20 October 2019

Monday 21 October 2019

Funding success for research into itch

Dr Henning Holle and Dr Emmanuele Tidoni have been successful in obtaining funding from the Experimental Psychology Society to support their research on itch. The funds will be used to support a student research assistant who will be trained up in the use of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.

Thursday 17 October 2019

Graduation Ceremonies at our partner colleges


Over the last few weeks our Associate Deans and our Lead Academic Contact have been busy representing the University at Graduation Ceremonies at the partner colleges where we validate Collaborative Provision Programmes. Dr Amanda Lee went to Grimsby Institute, Dr Colin Johnson to Selby College (and he will attend Doncaster College next week), Dr Mark Fogarty went to Lincoln College and Dr Jacquie White went to Leeds College of Music and East Riding College.

Jacquie White in USA

Dr Jacquie White, Associate Dean Education attended the 33rd Annual Conference of the American Psychiatric Nursing Association in New Orleans between 2-6 October, with a group of Mental Health Nurses sponsored by Janssen-Cilag Ltd.

Monday 14 October 2019

Local funding success


Dr Jo Bell, Dr Lisa Revell and Dr Annette Schlosser have been successful in obtaining funding from East Riding of Yorkshire Council to support research evaluation of a Department for Education commissioned project intervention aimed at reducing mental health outcomes for young people. The project will focus on the development of a multidisciplinary support team approach to working with vulnerable and at-risk young people in the area.

Thursday 10 October 2019

NIHR grant success for Prof Lesley Smith and Dr Anand Ahankari


Professor Smith and Dr Ahankari have been successful in obtaining the NIHR Public Involvement grant to support the development of a research project called ‘ROSEANNE’. This will help plan an intervention programme to address impacts of alcohol on preconception health and reproductive outcomes. Two workshops will be conducted in Hull to plan a full grant application to the NIHR and/or MRC early in 2020. Dr Andrea Hilton will be also involved in the workshops and will contribute to the future research development.