These pages are for the first Vital Signs conference in 2008.
Click here for information on the second Vital Signs conference:
Vital Signs 2: Engaging Research Imaginations
University of Manchester
7-9 September 2010
Vital Signs: Researching Real Life - Programme Overview
Click on the green session titles to go to a page showing the paper abstracts.
Jump to: Wednesday 10th September / Thursday 11th September
Tuesday 9 September 2008
| Time | Sessions |
|---|---|
| 12.30 | Registration and Lunch |
| 2.00 | Welcome and introduction - Jennifer Mason (Real Life Methods, University of Manchester) (Cordingley Theatre) |
| 2.15 | Plenary session 1: Professor Tim Ingold (University of Aberdeen) View biography 'Bringing things back to life: Creative entanglements in a world of materials' (Cordingley Theatre) |
| 3.15 | Break |
| 3.45 | Paper Session 1: 1a. Symposium: Researching visual, auditory, tactile and other sensory realms (Cordingley Theatre) ‘Motherhood, identity work, and visual methods: Photography as a method of exploring maternal subjectivity’ – Dr Helen Lomax (University of Hertfordshire), Dr Janet Fink, Professor Gillian Rose, Dr Mary Jane Kehily and Lucy Hadfield (Open University) 1b. The spatial and the social (Room G32) ‘Doing research on a building site: The vitality of the visual’ – Dr Dawn Lyon (University of Kent) ‘Researching housing: Building spatial narratives’ – Dr Iliana Ortega-Alcazar (London School of Economics) ‘This is where I live, this is how I live: Using mobile interviews to understand real life networks, neighbourhoods and communities’ – Dr Andrew Clark and Dr Nick Emmel (Real Life Methods , University of Leeds) (Room G33) ‘Looking for vital signs of feminism: Researching eco/feminism’s changing nature’ – Dr Niamh Moore (University of Manchester) ‘Real lives in real fields: the significance of ‘being there’ for knowing ‘real life’’ – Dr Natasha Mauthner (University of Aberdeen), Dr Andrea Doucet (Carleton University, Canada) ‘Thinking beyond the social: Researching resemblances’ – Katherine Davies (Real Life Methods , University of Manchester) Download presentation slides [new window] |
| 5.15 | Finish Free evening (we will provide plenty of suggestions of places to eat and things to do in Manchester) |
Wednesday 10 September 2008
| Time | Sessions |
|---|---|
| 9.30 | Paper Session 2: (Cordingley Theatre) ‘The limits of the world’ – Dr Andrew Irving (University of Manchester) ‘Reflections on methods: Contemporary challenges for sociological approaches’ –Professor Carol Smart (Real Life Methods, University of Manchester) ‘Queer orientations: Researching vital sexualities’ – Dr Brian Heaphy (Morgan Centre, University of Manchester) (Room G32) ‘’Who knows?’: Reflections of a community research team in Bradford and Keighley, England’ – Heather Blakey (University of Bradford) ‘Focus groups with young people: A participatory approach to research planning’ – Dr Anna Bagnoli, Dr Andrew Clark and Dr Bren Neale (Real Life Methods , University of Leeds) ‘”Look at the state of me!”: Researching and representing everyday identities and relationship cultures in participatory research with young people in care’– Dr Emma Renold, Dr Alexandra Allan and Dr Nicola Ross (Cardiff University) 2c. New ways with surveys and Mixed Methods (Room G33) ‘The commodity chain of the household: From survey design to policy planning’ – Dr Sara Randall (UCL), Dr Tiziana Leone and Dr Ernestina Coast (LSE) ‘Talk about talk: A mixed methods approach to exploring emotional support in the UK’ – Julie Brownlie (University of Stirling), Simon Anderson (Scottish Centre for Social Research), Nicky Cleghorn (National Centre for Social Research) ‘Young people’s views on what matters in family relationship: Quantitative and qualitative evidence’ – Dr Sarah Irwin (Real Life Methods , University of Leeds) |
| 11.00 | Break |
| 11.30 | Paper Session 3: 3a. Senses, evocation and histories (Cordingley Theatre) ‘Picture me as a young woman: Making sense of young women’s photograph collections from the 1950’s and 1960’s’ – Dr Penny Tinkler (University of Manchester) ‘”Is that escape you’re wearing miss?”: A synaesthetic approach to research into everyday prison life’ – Dr Anita Wilson (University of Lancaster) (Room G32) The presentation of a moral self in personal narratives' - Dr Vanessa May (Morgan Centre, University of Manchester) 'Christmas Stories: Participants filmed family events ’ – Dr Stewart Muir (Real Life Methods , University of Manchester) (Room G33) ‘Researching family relationships: A mixed-methods approach – Dr Jacqui Gabb (Open University) ‘Learning from young children: Enabling 3 and 4 year olds as commentators on their own experiences’ – Dr Christine Stephen, Joanna McPake, Professor Lydia Plowman (Stirling Institute of Education, University of Stirling), Sarah Berch-Heyman (Formerly of Stirling Institute of Education)
Download presentation slides [new window] |
| 1.00 | Lunch |
| 2.00 | Plenary session 2: Professor Carolyn Steedman (University of Warwick) View biography ‘On the law, poetry and a pair of stays: How to write the history of everyday life’ |
| 3.00 | Break |
| 3.30 | Paper Session 4: (Cordingley Theatre) ‘Literary language as anthropological tool in Vassily Aksyonov: “In Search of Melancholy Baby”’ – Olga Kuminova (Ben-Gurion University) ‘Between fact and fiction: Sound, narrative and interactivity in the recontextualisation of the Stephen Lawrence case’ – Tahera Aziz (London South Bank University) ‘The art of generalisation in real life research’ – Professor Jennifer Mason (Real Life Methods , University of Manchester)
4b. Authenticity, artificiality and consciousness (Room G32) ‘”We strut with borrowed plumes”: Real life and the force of imitation’ – Dr Petra Tjitske Kalshoven (University of Aberdeen) 'Photogenic authenticity in tourism' - Dr John Taylor (University of Manchester) 4c. Experiential, psychosocial and metaphorical approaches (Room G33) ‘Reflections on the Experience Sampling Method (ESM): Exploring everyday well-being in both verbal and visual mediums’ – Anne Kellock, Rebecca Lawthom, Karen Duggan, Professor Judith Sixsmith, Jenny Hawkins, David Brown, John Haworth, Carolyn Kagan, Ilana Mountain, Assiya Siddiquee, Clare Worley, John Griffiths and Christina Purcell (MIRIAD, Manchester Metropolitan University) ‘Using psychoanalytical concepts to understand a father-son relationship: The importance of biography’ – Professor Brendan Gough (Real Life Methods, Nottingham Trent University) ‘Metaphor analysis and real life data’ – Professor Lynne Cameron (Real Life Methods, Open University)
|
| 5.00-6.00 | Drink reception and exhibition viewing |
| 7.00 | Conference dinner at the Whitworth Art Gallery We're organising what we hope will be a relaxed, sociable and tasty conference dinner > |
Thursday 11 September 2008
| Time | Sessions |
|---|---|
| 9.30 | Paper Session 5: (Room G32) ‘Sea food and stratification in East London’ – Alex Rhys-Taylor (Goldsmiths College, University of London) 'Soundscapes and urban design: Taking professionals out of the office' - Dr Mags Adams (University of Salford) ‘Knocking on doors: Recruitment and enrichment in a qualitative interview based study’ – Katherine Davies (Real Life Methods, University of Manchester)
(Room G33) ‘Can knitting socks be scholarly research? How to think through the fabric of life’ – Solveigh Goett (University of East London)
‘Studying identities through collage’ – Dr Anna Bagnoli (Real Life Methods, University of Leeds) 5c. Visual knowledge and ethics (Cordingley Theatre) ‘Cartographies of the body’ – Charlotte Bates (Goldsmiths College, University of London)
‘Real life visual ethics’ – Dr Jon Prosser (Real Life Methods, University of Leeds) ‘Growing old for real’ – Mary MacMaster (Norwich School of Art and Design) |
| 11.00 | Break |
| 11.30 | Paper Session 6: 6a. Life, death and the virtual (Room G32) ‘Why so-called indigenous people never bothered to invent biology. An anthropological perspective on ‘life’’ – Dr Istvan Praet (Oxford University) ‘A dead social science can give no reasons: The value of the virtual in social research’ – Mariam Fraser (Goldsmiths College, University of London) ‘Lives lived with the dead: Rethinking the meaning of vital signs in real lives’ – Therese Richardson (University of Sheffield) (Room G33) ‘The ‘virtual’ reality of life with a long-term condition: Exploring online discussion boards as a reflection of self-management policy in practice’ – Caroline Sanders, Anne Kennedy, Caroline Gardner and Anne Rogers (NPCRDC University of Manchester) ‘Testing powers of engagement: Eco-appliances, home experiments and object-centred research’ – Noortje Marres (Goldsmiths College, University of London) ‘Risk, trust and lesbian conception: Reflections on recruiting ‘face-to-face’ interview research participants online’ – Petra Nordqvist (University of York) 6c. Symposium: Identity and insight: Qualitative longitudinal methods as a route into the psycho-social (Cordingley Theatre) ‘Identities in process: Methodological reflections on a study of first-time motherhood’ – Professor Wendy Hollway and Heather Elliott (Open University) ‘Creating family case histories: Subjects, selves and family dynamics – Professor Rachel Thomson, Dr Mary Jane Kehily, Lucy Hadfield and Sue Sharpe (Open University) ‘Researching masculine and paternal subjects in times of change: Reflections from a QLL and psychosocial study’ – Dr Karen Henwood (Cardiff University), Dr Mark Finn and Fiona Shirani |
| 1.00 | Lunch |
| 2.00 | Plenary session 3 and conference close : Professor Les Back (Goldsmiths, University of London) View biography Social research and its futures (Cordingley Theatre) |
| 3.15 | Finish |
