"I Ain't No Tea Lady": Identifying and addressing barriers to non-traditional employment, training and education from a female perspective, SOVA

The aim of this research was to examine perceptions and experiences of accessing non-traditional Education Training and Employment (ETE) from the vantage point of disadvantaged women using innovative sampling and research techniques. The research design and strategy sought to access the participant’s views and valuable experience. Many of the women whose opinions the research was trying to elicit had never considered non-traditional ETE, in their own words it simply was 'not on their radar'. We decided to adopt a 'workshop' approach. A workshop format was designed which used fun and thought provoking exercises to promote discussion. These interactive and dynamic workshops proved successful in generating some excellent data. In total 80 women from a range of areas of disadvantage participated in the research

Preventing Trafficking for Labour Exploitation

Experts in the field of human trafficking place central importance on the 'three Ps' first set out in the UN Human Trafficking Protocol (2003) as an effective framework for combating this global problem: prevention, protection and prosecution. Of these measures prevention is considered the foundation of any anti-trafficking response. Indeed, the UK Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC) states: 'Prevention efforts are [....] a key component of the UKHTC's proactive strategy to reduce harm and protect victims of human trafficking'. UK efforts to prevent trafficking to date have been patchy and prevention is only addressed in the Draft Modern Slavery Bill in the limited context of general criminal deterrence. The Gangmasters' Licensing Authority (GLA) is the UK's only pro-active labour inspectorate working to prevent and identify incidences of trafficking for labour exploitation and yet operates in just a small number of labour sectors. Since 2010, the GLA has seen its resources, remit and scope greatly reduced. The remainder of the UK's labour inspectorates have also seen reductions in budget and scope, limited to 'high-risk' areas, leaving increasing elements of the UK labour market unregulated and ripe for exploitation. Both documented and undocumented migrant workers are placed in danger of exploitation as immigration measures intensify isolation, state protections are weakened and all migrant workers are increasingly marginalised. The UK Government has made ending 'modern day slavery' a priority and yet in limiting the activities of the GLA, reducing the scope of all labour inspectorates and contributing to the extreme marginalisation of migrant workers has severely restricted the UK's ability to prevent trafficking for labour exploitation

BAICE Thematic Forum:Challenging deficit discourses in international education and development

Research and policy in international education has o en been framed in terms of a deficit discourse. For instance, policy debates on women’s literacy and education have begun by positioning women as a group who need to ‘catch up’ on certain skills in order to become more active in development. Rather than recognising the skills and knowledge that participants already have and prac se in their everyday lives, researchers who adopt this deficit perspective on learning and education may find that the research agenda and questions will already be shaped to a large extent by the providers’/ policy makers’ standpoint. This BAICE Thematic Forum aimed to deepen understanding around how deficit discourses have shaped the questions and objectives of international educational research. As well as deconstructing and gaining greater knowledge into why and how these dominant deficit discourses have influenced the research agenda, we also set out to investigate and propose alternative conceptual models through two linked seminars. The seminars were intended to explore and challenge dominant deficit discourses that have shaped the way researchers/policy makers look at specific groups in development and thematic policy areas

Best practice and future challenges. Telling ePortfolio Stories 2008: The road to ‘stickiness’, 5th June 2008, University of Wolverhampton

After three years of development in partnership with two other HEI's, employers and related organisations the University of Wolverhampton launched its Foundation Degree in Travel Operations Management in September 2008. The course was designed to be a pilot for a national programme and the institution is now leading the Curriculum Development element of the national product, in partnership with FDF. This workshop explores the journey so far and the trials and tribulations of developing a work based Foundation Degree in association with two other HEI’s, employers and related organisations. It is delivered on-line using Pebble Pad technology and supported by a face to face induction with ongoing email and telephone tutorials. The first cohort of 60 students is nearing the end of the first year of the programme, and the process has highlighted a number of difficulties including resources in planning and developing on line learning materials (both the materials themselves, the costs of technical expertise and ongoing Technology Supported Learning (TSL) training). In addition agreeing the programme regulations (including the size of modules); agreements in financial arrangements between employers and the HEI partners (each of which have different rates of pricing for FD); preparing industry personnel for their mentoring and coaching roles and changing personnel in supporting organisations contributed to the issues. Finally ensuring compliance with sector skills organisations who have not yet written their FD frameworks; industry partners frustration in timely decision making processes through the complicated list of personnel involved in agreeing decisions at different strategic levels of the university structures contribute to periods of frustration. By sharing these experiences and the current experience of being involved in the development of a wider partnership the authors hope to prevent future problems that may arise in innovative developments and to share the good practice that the programme has so far established, and which will from September 2008, be delivered using a broader national model

Cellular expression and crystal structure of the murine cytomegalovirus MHC-Iv glycoprotein, m153

Mouse cytomegalovirus (MCMV), a β-herpesvirus that establishes latent and persistent infections in mice, is a valuable model for studying complex virus-host interactions. MCMV encodes the m145 family of putative immunoevasins with predicted MHC-I structure. Functions attributed to some family members include downregulation of host MHC-I (m152) and NKG2D ligands (m145, m152, m155) and interaction with inhibitory or activating NK receptors (m157). We present the cellular, biochemical and structural characterization of m153, which is a heavily glycosylated homodimer, that does not require β2m or peptide, and is expressed at the surface of MCMV-infected cells. Its 2.4 Å crystal structure confirms that this compact molecule preserves an MHC-I-like fold and reveals a novel mode of dimerization, confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis, and a distinctive disulfide-stabilized extended amino terminus. The structure provides a useful framework for comparative analysis of the divergent members of the m145 family

Management of complex symptoms in multiple sclerosis (MS)

People with MS can present with a complex range of symptoms. Some of these include dysautonomia (autonomic dysfunction), fatigue, cognitive impairment, and mood disorders. These symptoms must be managed in order to optimise intervention outcomes