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An editorial is presented on disseminating work funded under the UK research councils' Diet Research and Industry Club (DRINC). Topics include ensuring the transfer of knowledge between the science base and industry through the support of effective networking between the academic groups and companies involved in DRINC; and working in food businesses having the opportunity to forge research collaborations with leading UK academics in the field of food, nutrition and health.

The severe restrictions placed upon face‐to‐face meetings during the Covid pandemic in 2020/2021 created new challenges for the on‐going research into food systems in the Portsmouth community. The researchers had planned to use soft action research which involves participants meeting face‐to‐face. The restrictions that were imposed during the pandemic forbade such meetings and created a new set of issues for the researchers to overcome. In this paper, we describe how these shortcomings were addressed and introduce a novel way of adapting soft action research through the use of Information and Communication Technologies. The lessons learnt from our experiences will help inform researchers and professionals using Soft methods of inquiry and open opportunities for others to explore further the benefits and disadvantages of online investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the assessment of the crossdisciplinarity of technology-enhanced learning ( TEL). Based on a general discussion of the concept interdisciplinarity and a summary of the discussion in the field, two empirical methods from scientometrics are introduced and applied. Science overlay maps and the Rao- Stirling diversity index are used to analyze the TEL field with a scientometric analysis. The science overlay maps show that a wide variety of disciplines contributes to research in the field. The analysis reveals that the field has been operating on a relatively high level of crossdisciplinarity in the last 10 years compared with six other fields of reference. Only in 2004 a decrease in the level of crossdisciplinarity could be identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: James Lind Alliance (JLA) Priority Setting Partnerships (PSPs) produce 'Top 10' lists of health and care research priorities through a structured, shared decision‐making process with patients or service users, carers and health or care professionals who identify questions that are most important to them. To date, over 150 PSPs in different areas of health and care have published research priorities. Some PSPs share similar priorities, which could be combined, promoted and addressed through collaborative research to increase value and reduce research waste. Aim: The aim of this study was to identify overarching themes common to JLA PSP priorities across different areas of health and care. Methods: Our analysis included 'Top 10' research priorities produced by UK‐based JLA PSPs between 2016 and 2020. The priorities were coded deductively by the Health Research Classification System (HRCS) health category and research activity. We then carried out online workshops with patients, service users and carers to generate new codes not already captured by this framework. Within each code, multistakeholder inductive thematic analysis was used to identify overarching themes, defined as encompassing priorities from three or more PSPs covering two or more health categories. We used codesign methods to produce an interactive tool for end users to navigate the overarching themes. Results: Five hundred and fifteen research priorities from 51 PSPs were included in our analysis. The priorities together encompassed 20 of 21 HRCS health categories, the most common being 'generic health relevance' (22%), 'mental health' (18%) and 'musculoskeletal' (14%). We identified 89 overarching themes and subthemes, which we organised into a hierarchy with seven top‐level themes: quality of life, caregivers and families, causes and prevention, screening and diagnosis, treatment and management, services and systems and social influences and impacts. Conclusion: There are many overarching themes common to research priorities across multiple areas of health and care. To facilitate new research and research funding, we have developed an interactive tool to help researchers, funders and patients or service users to explore these priority topics. This is freely available to download online. Patient or Public Contribution: Patients or service users and carers were involved throughout the study, including deciding the aims, designing the study, analysing priorities to identify themes, interpreting and reporting the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information studies have identified numerous needs and barriers to the integration of asylum seekers and refugees; however, little emphasis has been placed thus far on their need to keep their own culture, values, and traditions alive. In this work, we use ethnographic constructivist grounded theory to explore the place of heritage in the information experience of people who have sought asylum in the United Kingdom. Based on our findings, we propose to conceptualize heritage as an affective and meaningful information literacy practice. Such conceptualization fosters integration by allowing people to simultaneously maintain their own ways of knowing and adapt to local ones. Our research approach provides scholars with a conceptual tool to holistically explore affective, meaningful, and cultural information practices. This study also reveals implications for policymakers, third sector organizations, and cultural institutions working toward the more sustainable integration of asylum seekers and refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies knowledge production in complex, collaborative research projects that brought together academics from different disciplines, research users and agricultural businesses. It takes a comparative approach, studying the interactions within interdisciplinary research teams from ten case studies, considering the process of collaboration from initial idea through to publication. The research developed a typology of participants in these projects, and identified the motivations and challenges of each. Our results analyse the process of research teams coming together and the relationships that are built up during the research. A particular challenge identified was the building of cooperation and trust. This issue is explored alongside issues of communication, methodology, data analysis and the process of drawing and publicising conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to discuss how social psychology might go about studying social hostility in public life that goes beyond mere disagreement on political matters. The paper addresses the case of online misogyny against women active in public life. In the context of a profound coarsening of political debate in Britain and elsewhere, women who are active in public life come regularly up against a barrage of abuse and intimidation online. The paper argues that manifestations of misogyny cross ideological lines and takes an array of forms. Misogyny is a specific class of prejudice that harms the dignity of women by calling into question women's (human) rights to participation in public life, freedom of expression, and personal safety. In order to fully understand the intricacies of online misogyny, social psychologists need to draw upon more directly on communications and media theories of mediated communication and connective action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about tendencies to the subversion of sociology as a discipline. It connects external factors of the wider socio-political environment of higher education in the UK, especially those associated with the audit culture and new systems of governance, with the internal organization of the discipline. While the environment is similar for all social science subjects, the paper argues that there are specific consequences for sociology because of characteristics peculiar to the discipline. The paper discusses these consequences in terms of the changing relationship between sociology and the growing interdisciplinary area of applied social studies as a form of 'mode 2 knowledge'. It argues that while sociology 'exports' concepts, methodologies and personnel it lacks the internal disciplinary integrity of other 'exporter' disciplines, such as economics, political science and anthropology. The consequence is an increasingly blurred distinction between sociology as a discipline and the interdisciplinary area of applied social studies with a potential loss of disciplinary identity. The paper concludes with a discussion of how this loss of identity is associated with a reduced ability to reproduce a critical sensibility within sociology and absorption to the constraints of audit culture with its preferred form of mode 2 knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a examination into the history and trajectory of sociology as scholastic discipline in Great Britain, debating the flaws, challenges and possible future of the field. The author heavily cites and responds to a paper by John Holmwood included within the issue discussing the same topic. The author confirms and expands Holmwood's analysis, discussing the divergences which occurred in the discipline between the 1960s and the 1990s. Attention is particularly given to the role of sociology as an interdisciplinary art and the internal fragmentation of the discipline as a result.

Looks into a scientific controversy involving a manuscript entitled 'Lizard Stowaways on the Express Train to Polynesia,' which appeared in the British science weekly 'Nature,' to show the difficulty involved in interdisciplinary collaboration. Background on evolutionary biologist Christopher Austin's paper; Culture of science at the turn of the 21st century; Trope of scientific experiments and research.

The prevalence of obesity, both worldwide and in the UK, continues to rise and has been classified by the NHS as a major public health issue with current public health survey data indicating that nearly two thirds of adults are living with overweight and obesity. We know from existing appetite research that it is easy to overconsume calories, but difficult to reduce calorie intake below requirements and we seek to expand this evidence base to seek future research themes to provide the evidence on how to manage obesity. This Medical Research Council (MRC)‐funded hot topic workshop explored issues that are evolving from current literature to create discussion about potential future collaborative research around 4 themes: (i) Food reformulation/innovation – how appetite research can influence sustainable and healthy diets, (ii) One diet does not fit all – how should we conduct appetite research to embrace inter‐individual differences (e.g. responder/non‐responders), (iii) Environmental drivers of obesity/food choices – bridging the gap between appetite research and obesity services – future research themes, (iv) Big data approaches to develop understanding of drivers of appetite and food choice. Appetite forms a bridge to understanding the interaction between the internal and external environments and therefore has both biological and behavioural relevance for behaviour change associated with eating. This report summarises how future research can embrace this multidisciplinary challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. This study investigated clinical psychologists' experiences of gifts offered by clients in therapeutic relationships. Since limited prior research of gifts has been undertaken, the study was informed by an inter-disciplinary approach, drawing on theories of 'the gift' from anthropology, sociology, and psychoanalysis. Design and method. A postal survey was undertaken on a 10% random sample of clinical psychologists living in the UK on the Register for Chartered Psychologists (Clinical Section) ( N= 441). Responses to three open-ended questions were analysed qualitatively, using thematic analysis. Results. The response rate to the questionnaire was 50.57% ( N= 223). Three main themes were identified: (1) acceptance as the 'correct' response to a gift, (2) potency of the gift, and (3) the impact of policy on professional autonomy. Conclusions. The findings suggested that many participants viewed the gift as a way of the client reciprocating something that was given in the therapy. Within a Maussian account, this notion of reciprocity positions the therapeutic contact as the 'first gift'. Few gifts were refused and frequently occasioned pleasure in the participants. Although some givers were understood as needing to give because of ascribed intra-individual characteristics or 'psychopathology', normative gifting practices were commonly held to apply in therapeutic relationships. Further research should explore clients' perspectives on gifting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-disciplinary perspectives from operational research, management information systems, purposeful activity systems, accounting and finance, transaction-cost economics and organization learning are discussed in relation to `contracting' in the NHS following the recent reforms, applied within the general framework of soft-systems methodology. These are then used to frame questions for collecting information about contracting practices and issues. The data so collected suggest that the issues and activities associated with contracting can be grouped into five interacting categories of: strategy formation, making enabling arrangements, operational management of contracted activities, identifying and relating to stakeholders, and carrying forward organizational learning from experience. Each of the disciplinary perspectives attributes significance to specific forms in these five activities. The possibility of some multi-disciplinary linking of theoretical perspectives is demonstrated. Information and purposeful systems are central to this, being on the one hand created by social processes which define relevant information and corporate alignments of purpose, and on the other hand patterns of activity that can be evaluated in terms of contribution to these purposes, with properties of greater or lesser inhibition of innovation to improve purpose achievement. As a case study of an attempt at interdisciplinary research, it demonstrates that interdisciplinary linkage can be made, though certain epistemological issues are skated over in the process. On the basis of the case study, some of the richness and insight of the different perspectives is lost in the process. The critical debate about the neutrality of soft-systems methodology is commented on in the light of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The findings of a national workshop that explored the social and environmental impacts, challenges, and research opportunities associated with the role of urban freshwaters for improved public health are discussed. Bringing together the collective expertise of academics, practitioners, policy, and user‐groups from urban aquatic ecology and human health backgrounds, this commentary develops a progressive agenda for future research by synthesizing current understandings and knowledge of urban aquatic biodiversity relative to health‐related ecosystem service outcomes, from a cross‐sectoral and cross‐disciplinary perspective. Key areas include (a) a need for greater interaction between sectors to maximize opportunities for collaboration and to promote the cobenefits (both environmental and health) associated with urban freshwater ecosystems; and (b) the need for a unified understanding and operationalization of the definition of aquatic biodiversity across sectors and disciplines, to improve our understanding of whether actual freshwater biodiversity or the perception of biodiversity is important for maximizing gains in health. Methods of valuation relating to ecosystem services and resource allocation and investment in urban freshwaters are critical in ensuring that research addresses the pathways and contexts within which health and environmental benefits from blue space can be maximized. This article is categorized under:Human Water > Value of Water Urban aquatic ecosystems provide multiple co‐benefits including opportunities for recreations, cooling, flood alleviation and urban nature. How much biological diversity is present and how variations may differentially relate to variation in health outcomes is less understood (Wandsworth Common, UK. Courtesy of B. Goldsmith). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]