Social Work Division - Brunel University

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Page 2 Social Work Division Catherine Burridge, winner of the inaugural Mary Seacole prize, 2011. PhD Success! Rachana Patni completed her PhD in Management Studies research, which she has been pursuing on a part-time basis alongside her lecturing and more recently, Programme Leadership commitments. She believes it to be a small miracle that this was done in a little over 4 years. The PhD was based in the Centre for Research on Emotion Work at the Brunel Business School and was supervised by Professor Ruth Simpson. The title of the PhD is ‘Emotional Fools and Dangerous Robots: postcolonial engagements with emotion management’. It draws on organizational theory, critical management studies, human geography, psychology (including psychoanalytic theory), sociology, anthropology, development studies and social work literature. It is a qualitative exploration of emotion management and contributes to theoretical revisions and extensions that make the analysis of resistance to emotion management a theoretical possibility. This is done by using narrative analysis that creatively identifies resistance to emotion management as a discursive practice in organizations. Mary Seacole prize winner From summer 2011, the division of Social Work awarded a prize to the student demonstrating excellence and outstanding ability in social care. The prize is sponsored by the Caribbean Women Equality and Diversity Forum and is called the „Mary Seacole and CWEDF Prize for Social Care‟. The inaugural prize was presented to Catherine Burridge. Here Catherine reflects on her experiences of the MA Social Work programme at Brunel: ‘YOUTH ON RELIGION’ PROJECT: Multi-faith event in Hillingdon In October, eighty secondary school students and their teachers from different parts of the country joined academics, faith leaders, policy makers and other community representatives at a multi-faith event at Hillingdon Civic Centre on 6 July. The event was organised by the Youth On Religion research team at Brunel and provided an opportunity for teenagers of different faiths from Newham, Hillingdon and Bradford to come together to share their experiences, discuss religion and learn from each other. Students also brought artwork, photography, sculptures and DVDs on religion produced in their multi-faith areas, and played music and sang songs at the event. The event included a global food buffet, a „big brother‟ style video diary recording room, and café conversations. The Youth On Religion project, funded by a large grant of £490,213.25 from the AHRC/ESRC Religion & “This year I was the MA recipient of the inaugural Mary Seacole Prize for social work. The course was challenging to the point where I sometimes questioned whether I had done the right thing in curtailing my fundraising career to retrain as a social worker. I was, however, extremely fortunate to have two exciting and inspirational practice placements which gave me the impetus to persevere towards my goal of becoming a social worker. Society programme, involved an online survey of more than 10,000 teenagers from the London Boroughs of Hillingdon and Newham, and Bradford in West Yorkshire, as well as interviews, e-journal postings and discussion groups with around 160 of these young people. The research sites were chosen to reflect religious and cultural diversity. Professor Nicola Madge, Principal Investigator for the study and from the Centre for Child and Youth Research at Brunel University, presented a few early findings from the research on the importance of religion in young people‟s lives, personal meanings of religion, views on religion in society, knowledge of different religions, and friendships within and across faith divides. She suggested that “while there are differences between Within a month of qualifying, I was offered a twelve month contract as a locum social worker in an adult fieldwork team in Gloucestershire. It is a demanding yet rewarding role which makes the hard work of the previous two years seem thoroughly worthwhile. I am grateful to Brunel for providing me with a solid and invaluable knowledge base which I draw upon on a daily basis.” the study areas, the prevailing discourse everywhere emphasises respect for different faith and non-faith positions. While the reality may not always be quite so straightforward, we feel this is a very positive message for the future of our communities. We hope that all those in contact with young people will take it to heart and work with it.” The half-day event at the Civic Centre was addressed by the new Mayor of Hillingdon, Councillor Mary O‟Connor MBE. Professor Nicola Madge and the Mayor of Hillingdon.
CYID student awarded alumni scholarship: A journey of self-reflection By Tuyet Ngo Thuy Anh, MA CYID student I was lucky to have been awarded an Alumni Scholarship to study the MA course of Children, Youth and International Development (CYID). The opportunity to meet fellow students from different countries and backgrounds both in the scholarship programme and on my course is what I have appreciated the most about coming to Brunel University. Understanding differences is the best way to learn and to reflect about myself, what I believe in, where I come from, and why I have done things in a certain way. The CYID course has stimulated my critical thinking about international development in working with children and young people. My own perceptions have been deconstructed and then been re-constructed in the journey of self-reflection on my experiences with the projects I have been working on both in Southeast Asia and the UK. The conversations I have had with the students and lecturers on this course have been the best inspiration for myself. I am now in a period of transition to em- Social Work Alumni Association On Saturday 9 th July Dr. Jean Clarke hosted the first meeting of former graduates of social work who attended a planning meeting with the expressed purpose of forming a Social Work Alumni Association. Professor Susan Buckingham joined Jean in welcoming the participants, Karen Budd , Placement Coordinator, spoke about placement issues, Bertie Ross (Mentoring Coordinator) from Brunel‟s Widening Participation Programme provided information about Brunel‟s student mentoring programme and Hilary Fuller, Placement Administrator, made an invaluable contribution both to the planning and the hosting of the event. The meeting generated a rich mix of ideas as graduates shared their vision of the role and function of Page 3 Volume 1, Issue 2 the alumni association. To take these ideas forward, a management committee was formed on the same day. The committee has since met and have already begun to implement some of the ideas discussed at the first meeting. To date alumni members have been involved in teaching and placement preparation workshops, others have registered to become mentors for our students, as well as being actively involved in providing opportunities to enable first year students to fulfil their course requirement of shadowing qualified social workers before embarking on their first 30 day placement. Through liaison and consultation with Brunel‟s Widening Participation mentoring scheme, some alumni members have also applied to become involved in the ployment and aiming to become a more considerate practitioner working for real and meaningful benefits for children and young people. mentoring programme for our students. The next meeting of the association took place in early December where members finalised plans for hosting an employment preparation workshop for students who are expected to qualify at the end of this academic year. Dr Jean Clarke and social work alumni PhD success! In July, Barbara Van Wijnendaele, from the Centre for Human Geography, successfully defended her PhD ‘Power, Emotions and Embodied Knowledges: doing PAR with poor young people in El Salvador’. Barbara was supervised by Dr Nicola Ansell and Dr Fiona Smith. Here she talks about her research: ‘From March 2006-2008 I worked and did research with young people in El Salvador. I coordinated a local youth participation project in the capital, where, at the same time, I conducted fieldwork for my PhD research. The project aimed at empowering young people through participatory action research and, together with the young participants, I critically reflected on the empowering impact of this process. This research focused on the politics of emotions; their role in confirming exclusion and oppression and in facilitating empowerment and resistance. I conclude that participatory researchers still focus too much on critical reflection, discourse and conscious/linguistic representation as key to personal and social change. This focus has distracted their attention from the way power works through emotions and embodied knowledges. I believe that participatory researchers should become more sensitive still to the subtleties of power by paying more explicit attention to how emotions and embodied knowledges function within power relations to reproduce or challenge the existing status quo. Such a focus also opens new doors to new ways of empowerment (and politics).‟
Page 1: Street Games Project Dr Simon Bradf

Social Work Division - Brunel University

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