Care: Ethical Framework & Subject of Study

Care operates in our work in two related ways: 

An ethical framework for research practice 

The framework of care shapes how we approach research relationships, co-production, and our responsibilities towards narrators and community partners. This can be seen at work in the Green Corridors, Byker Community Archive, and Accessing the Wellbeing Commons projects. 

A subject of study 

Many of our projects feature care as a key subject of research. The Caring Communities project, led by Dr Claudia Soares involves new oral histories with care experienced people, placing them within the evolving context of UK social care 1800 – Present. Meanwhile, Dr Wendy Rickard’s work on HIV and Dr Lena Ferriday’s contribution to the Accessing the Wellbeing Commons project both feature care as prominent research topics. 

Postgraduate Researchers Ally Keane, Ryan Fallon, and Lily Tidman are all completing PhD projects which centre care as a subject of study. Ally focuses on AAC users and how they experience these technologies. Ryan has been reusing existing oral histories alongside original interviews to uncover experiences of child patients at Northumberland’s Stannington Sanatorium from the 1930s to 1960s. Lily’s project explores healthcare volunteering in the ‘far North’ of England 1979-1997, focusing on little-studied forms, sources, and spaces of care in hospital settings.  

Relevant projects

Current:

Caring Communities

Disrupted Narratives, Exposed Voices: A Global Analysis of HIV Oral History & Its Public Dissemination

AHRC-Funded PhD: A History of Augmentative & Alternative Communication (AAC)

AHRC-Funded PhD: Finding the Child-Patient Experience at Stannington Sanatorium

AHRC-Funded PhD: Hospital Volunteering in the 'far North' of England, 1979-1997

Past:

‌Newcastle General Hospital Community History

Covid-19 & Mutual Aid

Foodbank Histories