Redesigning PPE: Enhancing the comfort and safety of healthcare workers wearing isolation gowns to treat patients with COVID-19

Case Study During the pandemic surveys of nursing staff highlighted issues relating to the poor comfort, fit and durability of oversized, isolation gowns. The rudimentary design and fabrication of this personal protective equipment (PPE) was the result of a crisis-managed situation whereby the PPE industry, including new companies, adopted an unsustainable, ‘non-circular’ approach to meet […]

Culture Box: Remote and Digital Delivery of Arts and Creative Activities to Improve the Wellbeing of People with Dementia in Care Homes

Case Study People living with dementia in care homes have been severely negatively impacted during the pandemic with those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups disproportionately affected. High rates of mortality, social isolation, loneliness and responsive behaviours (such as restlessness, agitation and wandering) increased as visits from loved ones, artists and creative practitioners […]

The New Real: Trust and Acceptance in Networked Online Experience to Enable and Support Post-COVID-19 Recovery

About the project This research sought to experiment with new experiences for everyday living and for new practices, infrastructures and business models for the cultural sector in response to the challenges of COVID-19. Methods employed included a blend of futures design processes and collaborative co-creation. Projects have particular implications for understandings around the digital pivot […]

Impacts of COVID-19 on the cultural sector and implications for policy

About the project This project aimed to deepen understanding of the impacts of COVID-19 on cultural organisations, on the cultural sector workforce, and on audiences. There were three strands to this mixed methods research programme. The first examined the impacts on the cultural sector, analysing large data-sets including the ONS Labour Force Survey. These were […]

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Cartoons and creative solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Youth perspectives for the future at the Forum for Global Challenges

Charlotte King and Fransiska Louwagie discuss the research collaborations that have informed a new education programme to help secondary students to make sense of their pandemic experiences through political cartooning. Blog written in collaboration with Sarah Weidman, Lucie Spicer and the broader Covid in Cartoons team and partners. The Covid in Cartoons team have worked with partners ShoutOutUK and Cartooning for Peace to develop a […]

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News from the Culture Box

Dr Chloe Asker (Post Doctoral Research Associate) reflects on methodologies in arts and health research that have become so important during the pandemic and shares some updates on the Culture Box project. Introducing the Culture Box project In recent years, there has been a growing interest in person-centred approaches to engage people with dementia in […]

Digital, Regeneration and Experience Economy Modelling (DREEm)

About the project This study explored practical and innovative strategies undertaken by organisations during COVID-19 that sought to develop meaningful digital experiences and content linked to places. Using mixed methods, it collected and analysed data in three case study locations in order to measure the scale and characteristics of the UK experience economy, to understand […]

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

The pandemic has highlighted systemic inequalities across society. An interest in exploring and addressing these has been explicit in or threaded through many of the AHRC-funded COVID-19 studies.  Researchers have explored how public health messaging might better reach different communities. They have also shone a spotlight on experiences of racism for people working in the […]

Cultural and Creative Industries

Arts and Humanities research during the pandemic has shown how the crisis is galvanising practitioners and stakeholders in the cultural sector to find new models for producing work and for reaching audiences. However, it has also exposed structural inequalities and exclusions for audiences and for the sector’s workforce.   Technological innovations, including hybrid modes of digital and […]

Arts & Health and Wellbeing

Arts and humanities research during the COVID-19 pandemic has addressed issues of direct relevance for the support of individual, social and community health, mental health and wellbeing.  Findings show that during the pandemic, the social care sector and the NHS have been able to access, benefit and learn from community assets and resources, including those […]