I am really pleased to announce that we have been awarded an AHRC Health Inequalities Phase 2 Award as part of UKRI’s Mobilising Community Assets to Tackle Health Inequalities research programme for the FYLDE Coast Consortium . The project is led by Dr Barbara Mezes, at the University of Liverpool, and I am one of the Co-Investigators.
Project outline
Coastal communities continue to have more, and greater health challenges compared to their inland neighbours. This project will use creative methods and co-production to unite experts-by-experience and experts-by-profession from the public and voluntary, community, faith, and social enterprise sectors. They will build partnerships and identify ways to address health disparities in Fylde Coast and in other coastal communities.
As Co-Investigator in this project I will be helping stakeholders built capacity in research and creative methods. Our workshops will help participants grow research skills, develop researcher identity, and learn about different research methods that can be used to answer different research questions relevant to the community.
Do you live you in Brighton & Hove, and surrounding areas? We’d like to know about how the pandemic has affected you physically, mentally, financially and any support you have accessed.
There is so much data around the coronavirus pandemic – whether it’s the number of cases, the rate of testing or the numbers of people who have died. Then there’s the effect on the economy, numbers of children missing school and so on. The thing is … we know the data don’t show everything. Which is why we’d like to know how you’re doing.
The data and stories we collect will be combined with other types of data, such as national statistics, by the local data designer and artist Caroline Beavon, to create an online story that everyone can access.
Today starts the 3rd week of staggered isolation & social distancing measures imposed for addressing COVID-19, which also affected Universities and research teams. As other PIs around the world, I had to think how the ART/DATA/HEALTH project could adjust to the new reality of the COVID-19 crisis. The ART/DATA/HEALTH project aims to work with communities and citizens to build their digital and data science skills in order to understand large amounts of data – and the way we do this is through creativity and the arts. But plans to run workshops with the project’s key partners and stakeholders were cancelled, while the Brighton Fringe Festival has been postponed until October 2020.
Inevitably we have moved to an extended period of working remotely, in order to realise the vision of the project, which is to benefit communities digest health and wellbeing data through arts and creativity. I have commissioned three artists for the ART/DATA/HEALTH project and they have all now shifted their practice and focus in order to adjust and respond to the issues emerging from the COVID-19 everyday practices and materialities:
The bio-artist, Anna Dumitriu, was initially commissioned to explore domestic violence issues in consultation with the local charity RISE. She has now shifted her focus to also take into account data on the effect of quarantine and self-isolation due to COVID-19 on women (RISE is a Sussex-based charity that supports people affected by domestic abuse and violence. RISE stands for Refuge, Information, Support and Education). Beyond the impact of COVID-19 related measures on women in general and the reported rise in cases of domestic abuse, my collaboration with RISE has aimed to give voice to the experiences of staff. The impact of isolation due to COVID-19 on the wellbeing of charity workers who support survivors of domestic abuse is hence a key research interest for my work in the ART/DATA/HEALTH project. To explore these experiences, feelings and emotions around social distancing and staying at home during this challenging time, Anna and I will be sending art kits to RISE staff, which they can use remotely.
The local community artist Ian Leaver was initially commission to co-facilitate the workshop Staying Healthy in Whitehawk earlier this month, and to co-produce, with local residents, an mural at Wellsbourne Healthcare CIC in Whitehawk. My collaboration with the Wellsbourne is aimed at understanding barriers to access the health services for citizens who live in an area of multiple deprivation. The workshops at the Whitehawk Library planned for earlier this month got cancelled, so Ian and I have been thinking of ways to continue the work, to connect with the community, and offer an opportunity to East Brighton residents to take part in an art project, while they record a daily diary. We are inviting people who live in East Brighton and belong in a sensitive group, or are in isolation to engage in a creative project.
The idea is simple: For 14 days or more, participants will track their symptoms, or other activity in relation to your health (for example medication, sleep, anxiety etc). You can use drawing, photo, audio, or write a brief blog to record your daily diary. Ian will then use these diary data to create an artwork that will be permanently exhibited at Wellsbourne Healthcare CIC in Whitehawk. To explain how people can take part in the project we are offering the free online workshop, ART IN ISOLATION which will take place on Wednesday 8th April, 2-3pm. Ian Leaver-Blaxstone and I (Aristea Fotopoulou) will take you through the 14-day art challenge, and will discuss your ideas.
Oddly enough, I originally commissioned VR artist Kate Genevieve to explore the emotional and embodied aspects of connection and isolation, before the COVID-19 crisis. Now her work is even more relevant. Although Kate was lucky enough to connect with workshop participants (staff from various local charity organisations) in real life, and in a physical space (at the Phoenix Art Space in February), she will also be sending out instructions for an arts and crafts activity to participants, as we are working with the loneliness and befriending charity Together Co.
For more updates about how the project is adjusting and responding to the new situation read the ART/DATA/HEALTH blog.
Join us for the first ART/DATA/HEALTH public event, part of the 2019 Brighton Digital Festival
Four exciting speakers will discuss and demonstrate the cutting-edge opportunities and challenges that digital data tools and technologies present for health and wellbeing. What is the role of art and creativity in public engagement with health data? How is the digitization of health records changing public attitudes and medical practices? And how can virtual/augmented reality help us experience our bodies in a different way?
Full details: Wednesday 23rd October, 6.30-8pm, at Phoenix Art Space (Green Room, ground floor), 10-14 Waterloo Place, Brighton, BN2 9NB. The venue is fully wheelchair-accessible, with accessible toilets.
Who is it for: Everyone, especially people interested in digital health, health data, arts and health, immersive technologies, and data for the social good.
Sarah Ticho (@SarahTicho), specialist in arts, health and immersive technology. Sarah has extensive experience working across the interdisciplinary arts, academia, healthcare and virtual reality as a producer, curator, artist and researcher. She is the founder of Hatsumi, producer at Deep VR, and Healthcare Lead at Immerse UK.
‘My healthcare data: What does it look like and what can it be used for?’
Dr. Liz Ford (@DrElizabethFord), Senior Lecturer in Primary Care Research, Brighton and Sussex Medical School. Liz’s research focuses on mental health and dementia in primary care and community settings, with a particular focus on novel methods for using electronic health data such as patient records.
‘You can’t manage what you can’t measure’
Jo-Anne Welsh (@BOPjo_anne), CEO, Oasis Project. Jo-Anne qualified as a general nurse many years ago. Her career has included working in both acute and community settings and in the voluntary and statutory sector. Throughout her career she has been interested in health inequalities and has worked in both HIV services and for the last 12 years in Substance Misuse provision. Jo-Anne was awarded a Wellcome Fellowship for a project exploring attachment and how it relates to clients’ experiences in 2016.
‘Enhancing public engagement with health data through art practice’
Dr. Aristea Fotopoulou (@aristeaf), Principal Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Media and Communications in the School of Media, University of Brighton. Aristea is a UKRI Innovation Fellow/AHRC Leadership Fellow whose research focuses on social transformations that relate to digital media and data-driven technologies (e.g. self-tracking, wearables, big data, AI).
Moderator: Rifa Thorpe-Tracey (@rifa), an events organiser, coach, producer and advocate for inclusivity in tech. Rifa launched SheSays Brighton (@SheSaysBrighton), curates Spring Forward Festival, runs Refigure Ltd, co-hosts a weekly arts podcast and is also a yoga and meditation teacher.
The University of Brighton, School of Media invites applications for two Research Officers (one with focus on Digital Communications & Health, and one with focus on Arts & Health). The two positions are attached to the UKRI-AHRC Innovation Leadership Fellowship project “ART/DATA/HEALTH: Data as creative material for health and wellbeing”. The project creates an innovative and interdisciplinary process offering disadvantaged groups and the wider public new tools, at the intersections of data science with art practice, to approach two key issues in healthy aging and prevention: digital skills and health literacy.
You will be working in consultation with the Principal Investgator (PI) Dr Aristea Fotopoulou and as part of a team to undertake filedwork; liaise with project partners; organise participatory research workshops; manage, store and analyse fieldwork material; co-author research outputs; disseminate findings. A high level of analytical capability, as well as the ability to communicate information clearly (in a variety of forms) are necessary. Collaborating well as part of the project team is essential.
You will have knowledge and/or experience and research interests in one or more of the following areas:
For the post AE4011 ART/DATA/HEALTH Research Officer (Digital Communications & Health): participatory research; digital inclusion; health literacy; self tracking; datafication of health; data visualisation; arts for health and wellbeing.
For the post AE4012 ART/DATA/HEALTH Research Officer (Arts & Health): arts for health and wellbeing; community arts; data visualisation; cultural participatory; digital inclusion; health literacy; datafication of health.
Both posts are 0.5 FTE fixed term posts for approximately 9 months, and we would expect the successful candidate to be in post by the beginning of June 2019. The successful candidate will be based at the new Centre for Research Excellence ‘Digital Media Cultures’ at the University of Brighton. The Centre is an interdisciplinary knowledge network spanning computing, social science, media, art and design.
Aristea Fotopoulou 