• Question: What question or challenge were you setting out to address when you started this work?

    Asked by anon-215224 to Laura, Kathryn, Ian, Chris, Bogdana, Alex on 14 Jun 2019.
    • Photo: Ian Cookson

      Ian Cookson answered on 14 Jun 2019:


      My research question is around how group processes as a result of our social identity affect our transport choice. We have a personal identity and a social identity, which changes depending on the situation, and our social identity is formed depending on which groups we belong to, like being a school pupil, a brother, a football fan. So if people identify with different groups they behave in certain ways, like other members of that group, so we want a better understanding of that and how it affects peoples transport choice, specifically why people drive even though it’s bad for the environment.

    • Photo: Bogdana Huma

      Bogdana Huma answered on 17 Jun 2019:


      My newest project looks at how people use to term ‘mansplaining’ in interactions with others. This project, on which I work with 4 colleagues, came about when one of them was accused of mansplaining by a friend. He defended himself against the accusation, but then got intrigued about ‘what it actually means to mansplain to another person’. There is, of course, a definition of mansplaining* but as with many new words, a definition is not sufficiently indicative of how a term is being used.

      So our current research, which examines accusations of mansplaining that occurred spontaneously (we have a collection of clips mainly from TV shows and parliamentary debates), asks: how is the term ‘mansplaining’ used in conversations and what does this reveal about the vocabulary of ‘everyday sexism’.

      * mansplaining is defined as (usually a man) providing an explanation in a patronising or condescending way (usually to a woman)

    • Photo: Alex Lloyd

      Alex Lloyd answered on 17 Jun 2019:


      My research question is all about why teenagers take risks, and if there are positive sides to risk taking during this time. I look at how these risks might have helped us in prehistoric times, when we were hunter-gatherers. The challenge I aim to address is understanding when teenagers are more likely to take risks, and how we can steer this in a positive direction, to make sure that everyone gets a good start in life.

    • Photo: Laura Fisk

      Laura Fisk answered on 17 Jun 2019:


      My research is about how we can ffer better mental health services to people when they need them – without waiting lists or needing to make a referral (see another person like a GP or phone a central phone number) first. By ;eople, we mean all people – particularly tee agers, who often have a lot of trouble accessing services (that tend to be designed for adults, rather than for tenagers and their lifestyles – which seems crazy to me!).

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