In these two inaugural lectures Professor Laura Serrant and Professor Karen Sage share their thoughts and experiences of how through, research and practice they seek to continuously find ways to help people speak for themselves often challenging what is ‘known’ in order to improve the evidence base for professional decision making.

Monday 26 June 2017
6pm-8pm

Places are limited and need to be booked in advance

From Silence to Speaking: Enabling ‘other’ voices through research

Communication is one of the fundamental pillars of human society. The ability to be ‘heard’, to tell our stories and have someone listen is central to how individuals and communities engage with each other and make sense of the world.

In health and social care settings, communication – and more specifically ‘speech’ is used as a starting point in any therapeutic relationship. Developing communication skills and nurturing engagement with people through written or verbal communication is an essential part of health and care professional practice. Communication generates evidence in the form of information which enables professionals to work with client groups to develop an understanding of the problem at hand, identify care need and plan appropriate actions to improve health and life chances. However, the act of communicating can be problematic – clinical, social, cultural and physical barriers often exist that affect a person’s ability to speak or the stories they are able to tell. This creates a ‘silence’ in which issues affecting individual need, group experiences or society as a whole remain hidden. As a result the information or evidence, on which we as health and care professionals base our decisions and actions, may be distorted, incomplete or simply missing. The clinical academic researcher has an importance role to play in seeking out ways to hear the hidden or silenced stories of people and communities.

Refreshments served from 18:00-18:30.

The lecture will begin at 18:30 prompt followed by wine and nibbles.