Apologies for any cross posting.
The Wolfson Research Institute, Durham University would like to invite you to a number of up coming events which may be of particular interest to you.
Events are free and include refreshments.
The body and the workplace: Oral history methodology in the study of occupational health and disability in the 20th century by Professor Arthur McIvor, Strathclyde University
25th May 2012, 13:00 to 14:30, F009, Wolfson Research Institute, Durham University, Queen's Campus, Stockton on Tees, TS17 6BH
This presentation explores the value of oral history interviewing as a methodology in the study of occupational health and disability. It draws upon over 80 oral interviews undertaken in Britain by my colleague Ronnie Johnston and myself, which focus primarily upon work-related respiratory disease, including pneumoconiosis, bronchitis and mesothelioma. It will be argued that whilst oral interview material requires critical and sensitive treatment (necessitating reflective evaluation of how memories are constructed and the past recalled), nonetheless such narratives provide a wide range of insights into the employment-health interaction, work and health cultures and the lived experience of chronic disease and disability, including on lifestyles and identities.
Further details and registration here - http://www.dur.ac.uk/wolfson.institute/events/?eventno=11117
The real reasons why the Coalition is cutting the welfare state so hard - Wolfson Research Institute and School of Applied Social Sciences Guest Lecture by Professor Peter Taylor-Gooby
15th June 2012, 12:30 to 14:45, Calman Learning Centre, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE
Coalition public policy is directed at reducing the budget deficit, perhaps to zero by 2017. Unprecedented cutbacks are accompanied by major restructuring of most areas of public policy. Such a programme involves major economic, political and social risks. Why would a government, particularly a Coalition, pursue such a path? This paper seeks to explain why the government acts as it does, and why opposition parties find it so hard to develop an adequate counter-programme.
Further details and registration here - http://www.dur.ac.uk/wolfson.institute/events/?eventno=12181
Relationships of Consumption: co-production and interdependence in user relationships with public services by Professor Andrew Gray
6th July 2012, 13:00 to 14:30, F009, Wolfson Research Institute, Durham University, Queen's Campus, Stockton-on-Tees, TS17 6BH
Talk of customers in public services has become widespread. Government organisations are awash with 'customer first' initiatives, 'customer relations departments' and job advertisements that call for candidates to 'champion a customer centred approach to service'. Public servants may find this customer service metaphor valuable in drawing attention to and remedying the traditional neglect of the public in public service provision. The term also has the modernising appeal of the private sector. But what service relationships are implied by the use of the 'customer' label?
This talk draws on research into the nature of relationships of consumption of public services, particularly as they relate to health and wellbeing. It includes a conceptual elucidation of users as customers, clients, and customers and the role of co-production and interdependency in these relationships. The analysis suggests that current emphases on customers are conceptually flawed and practically risky. The conceptual flaws lie in failing to appreciate that the critical relationship in consumption is the nature of the interdependence between those who provide and those who consume and that this differentiates customers, client and citizens. These conceptual flaws present immediate practical risks for policy, provision and consumption including in establishing inappropriate relationships that can and do undermine the proper provision and consumption of those goods and services. However, services can be designed and managed in ways appropriate both to their societal function and user interests.
Further details and registration here - http://www.dur.ac.uk/wolfson.institute/events/?eventno=12391
Thank you and best wishes
Suzanne Sanders
PA to Professor Clare Bambra, Acting Director
Wolfson Research Institute
Durham University Queen's Campus
Stockton-on-Tees TS17 6BH
United Kingdom
Tel: (0)191 334 0013
http://www.dur.ac.uk/wolfson.institute/
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