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Arts and humanities in times of crisis

By Karen Gray, with Ellie O’Keeffe and Pascale Aebischer Please click here to access this guest blog post on WonkHE about the value of Arts and Humanities in times of crisis, and what we’ve learned from our survey of 106 researchers from 50+ teams in the Pandemic and Beyond cohort, about the unique pressures they […]

VIP CLEAR: Children’s lockdown experiences applied to recovery

About the project This project sought to gather and critically evaluate children’s worldviews, perceptions and experiences during COVID-19. Working with multicultural schools and nurseries in Bristol and a national partner, Action for Children, the research team employed child-focused, creative methodologies, interweaving socially engaged arts practice with social science to capture children’s voices and views. Principal Investigator […]

The immobilities of gender-based violence in the COVID-19 pandemic

About the project This transdisciplinary project sought to produce understandings of gender-based violence (GBV) during Covid 19 by studying the ways in which lockdowns change the spaces of GBV. It examined told and untold stories of GBV in relation to the complex patterns of mobilities uncovered – real and imagined movements in physical and virtual […]

The Arts Are Vital to Emergency Planning: Performance Strategies for Managing Pandemics

About the project Working with strategic decision-makers in Bristol, Glasgow and Newcastle City Councils, the research team investigated everyday innovations (social performances) and artistic interventions (aesthetic performances), to understand how performance can reimagine and facilitate city life in times of social distancing, and how performance theory and analysis might contribute to more nuanced, creative and […]

Public health messaging during the COVID pandemic: Dating app usage and sexual wellbeing among men who have sex with men

About the project This research studied the experiences of Men who have Sex with Men (MSM), during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. The study’s focus was on uses of dating and hook up apps, sexual activity and how and how this changed during the pandemic as restrictions such as social distancing and lockdowns […]

Bereavement Rituals During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Implications for Mental Health Support, Funerary Practices and Public Health Messaging

About the project This project explored the ways in which the Covid-19 pandemic dislocated significant rituals and practices around death and dying. Through qualitative research with bereaved families and with funeral directors, the research team sought to investigate the impact on mental health, on adherence to public health guidelines, and on the planning and delivery […]

Supporting healthcare professionals through Covid-19: Understanding how arts-based methods can support non-verbal communication

About the project The multidisciplinary research team involved in this project worked with performers to develop and deliver a programme of training and support for frontline NHS staff during the pandemic. A key focus of the work was on developing staff skills and confidence to communicate effectively when wearing PPE might have made this difficult. […]

Poets respond to Covid-19: Collaborative UK and International Poetry Project

About the project This project proposed the writing, exchange, publication and discussion of poetry as a significant cultural response, with benefits for the public in relation to processing, healing and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project produced an anthology of 30 poets resonding to COVID-19 and developed an accompanying interactive website that enabled collective […]

Optimising cultural provision to improve older people’s wellbeing through social prescribing in the context of COVID-19: Realist review and evaluation

About the project This project explored how the cultural sector adapted to support older people’s wellbeing during responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a realist approach, the research team examined what works, for whom, why and in what circumstances in order to be able to provide recommendations to the cultural sector about being ‘referral ready’ […]

Distanced Arts: Investigating the design, delivery, and impacts of Entelechy Arts’ Staying Connected Programme

About the project Led by a research team at Queen Mary University London and Entelechy Arts, this research explored how a programme of remotely provided arts and creative activities provided through Entelechy Arts’ Staying Connected programme might mitigate the negative health and wellbeing impacts of the pandemic for older people. Programmes were co-created with participants. […]