Happy Holidays



Gun Violence, Disability and Recovery – New Publication

Cate Buchanan, Director of the Surviving Gun Violence Project based in Sydney, presented a webinar on her forthcoming book that has been developed over the past 3 years with contributors from around the globe. It brings together survivors of gun violence and their experiences and very personal stories with those of advocates and activists, academic researchers and professionals from many disciplines. Unlike most studies of gun violence it does not focus on prevention or mortality but on the disabling consequences of gun violence in various contexts. Examples from Haiti, Burundi, the United States and many other countries are included in the book. Gun violence, Disability and Recovery is positioned at the intersection of health, human rights and disability and grounded in a social justice, public health and environmentally focused understanding. The book is seen as a starting point of further research, advocacy and knowledge mobilisation activities of this emerging network.
A recording of the webinar and the new book Gun Violence,Disability and Recovery is now available to view here.

SDHI Seminar presentation on transportation and community access now available

Lia Poeder, visiting Occupational Therapy researcher from the United States presented findings from an exploratory study on community access, public transport and participation as part of an SDHI seminar. The recording (apologies for some sound problems which resulted from construction activity in adjacent rooms) and the slide presentation are now available. The study embraces a socio-relational understanding of disabled access. Built-environment accessibility is crucial. However, making sure that buildings and transportation options are physically accessible is not enough. The ‘human factor’ is of equal if not greater importance to ensure that people with disabilities can actually use public transportation in a purposeful and safe way. You can watch the video recording of the seminar here.

Connecting to transform lives – the SDHI Strategy 2014 – 2018

SDHI will adopt a refreshed strategy in 2014. We are in the process of finalising the strategy document, which will be available in ebook form in January 2014. Just like ‘Building Bridges’ (2011-2014) it will represent a continuation of SDHI’s successful work over the past 10 years. The new strategy is called ‘Connecting to transform lives’ and reflects a new emphasis on ‘impact’. It is indicative of the universities’ visions of transformational change and the reference to ‘lives’ reflects the real life focus of the applied health and social research conducted, initiated or facilitated by SDHI. In this preview, we would like to highlight four central aspects of the new strategy:

1. Social sciences as the ‘anchor’ of SDHI research

Social science disciplines are the foundations for our research, which will interface with health, environmental, and computing sciences and the arts and humanities. SDHI sees its contribution in being a leader – grounded in applied social science thinking – to provide knowledge and solutions to many of today’s multi-faceted problems found in local and global societies as they affect the health, wellbeing and opportunities for social engagement of the population.

2. Combination of an evidence-based with a human rights based ethos to underpin SDHI research

From its inception onwards, SDHI has been a research platform that addressed questions of health and social inequalities. We will continue to broaden this work to reflect the social justice and rights-based orientations found in modern public health and social science research, which seek to combine a robust scientific with a human rights based approach to research, education and development.

3. Dedication to working with communities, non-governmental organisations, and businesses in addition to health and social care services

We see SDHI as a platform to advance participatory and community-based forms of action research and transformational change. Research grounded in the knowledge and expertise, in the assets of communities stands the best chance of achieving sustainable impact. We will actively work with our community partners towards effective as well as meaningful change.

4. Connecting global and local knowledge and expertise

Over the past three years, we have formed an increasing number of international connections that link with SDHI’s vision of connecting local and global expertise, skills and knowledge. We seek to build on these connections and expand them further to learn from partners around the globe how they work with socially marginalised groups, families, and communities. We believe that this approach positions us well in an increasingly interconnected world and that it will advance both short-term knowledge gain as well as the development of working arrangements, structures and processes that will be of benefit all partners.



This is just a snapshot of some of the key facets of our new strategy. If you would like to comment on this approach, please do so via Twitter @SDHIresearch #SDHIStrategy14 or send us an email at sdhi @dundee.ac.uk

St Andrews Seminar by Dr Nick Hulbert-Williams

A seminar entitled Unmet psychosocial support needs in young adults caring for a parent with chronic illness presented by Dr Nick Hulbert-Williams will be held on Thursday the 12th of December at 4pm in Seminar Room 2, Medical and Biological Sciences Building, University of St Andrews.  A wine reception will follow this seminar.  For further information please visit the School of Medicine events webpage

Forthcoming Seminar – Tuesday 17 December

SDHI is delighted to announce the following seminar ‘Community participation: Accessibility of public transportation for people with mobility impairments’ which will be led by Lia Poeder, Visiting Occupational Therapy Student, Washington University.  This seminar will be held in Room 2F13, Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee at 3.00pm on Tuesday 17th December.   For further information please see seminar flyer

Congratulations Professor Thilo Kroll!

SDHI is delighted to announce Thilo has been appointed Professor.  Thilo has been co-director of SDHI since January 2011.  His research focuses on the health, well-being and social participation of people with disabilities. He has received government and charity funding in the United States and the UK (US: Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research; Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; UK: Chief Scientist Office, ESRC, EPSRC, SFC, KTP).  Thilo is also co-founder of FRED – Family-Focused Research Education & Development

Thilo’s research focuses on three strands: Access and utilisation of health care services for people with disabilities; inclusive research design, methodology and routine data collection, and health promotion for people with disabilities. In each of these area, he has developed empirical work and published widely.

Since moving to Dundee, he has maintained and developed new national and international collaborations with colleagues from various social science and health-related disciplines to facilitate knowledge sharing and research at the intersection of disability and health.