The Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings (GCC) aims to stop the export of unethical research practices from higher to lower income settings. Launched in 2018, the GCC was immediately adopted by European Commission funding streams for application in research that is situated in lower and lower-middle income countries. Other institutions soon followed suit. This article reports on the application of the GCC in two of the first UK-funded projects to implement this new code, one situated in (...) India and one in Pakistan. Through systematic ethics evaluation of both projects, the practical application of the GCC in real-world environments was tested. The findings of this ethics evaluation suggest that while there are challenges for implementation, application of the GCC can promote equity in international research collaborations. (shrink)

Before COVID-19, dementia singing groups and choirs flourished, providing activity, cognitive stimulation, and social support for thousands of people with dementia in the UK. Interactive music provides one of the most effective psychosocial interventions for people with dementia; it can allay agitation and promote wellbeing. Since COVID-19 has halted the delivery of in-person musical activities, it is important for the welfare of people with dementia and their carers to investigate what alternatives to live music making exist, how these alternatives are (...) delivered and how their accessibility can be expanded. This community case study examines recent practice in online music-making in response to COVID-19 restrictions for people with dementia and their supporters, focusing on a UK context. It documents current opportunities for digital music making, and assesses the barriers and facilitators to their delivery and accessibility. Online searches of video streaming sites and social media documented what music activities were available. Expert practitioners and providers collaborated on this study and supplied input about the sessions they had been delivering, the technological challenges and solutions they had found, and the responses of the participants. Recommendations for best practice were developed and refined in consultation with these collaborators. Over 50 examples of online music activities were identified. In addition to the challenges of digital inclusion and accessibility for some older people, delivering live music online has unique challenges due to audio latency and sound quality. It is necessary to adapt the session to the technology's limitations rather than expect to overcome these challenges. The recommendations highlight the importance of accessibility, digital safety and wellbeing of participants. They also suggest ways to optimize the quality of their musical experience. The pandemic has prompted innovative approaches to deliver activities and interventions in a digital format, and people with dementia and their carers have adapted rapidly. While online music is meeting a clear current need for social connection and cognitive stimulation, it also offers some advantages which remain relevant after COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed. The recommendations of this study are intended to be useful to musicians, dementia care practitioners, and researchers during the pandemic and beyond. (shrink)

The paper explores the relation between a set of poetic formulas in early Greek and Anatolian languages of the second and early first millennia having to do with the cosmography of the rising sun in macrocosm, and going up into bed in microcosm, with an eye to defending the reading and restoration έρωι δέπασ εισομβάμεν in the editio princeps of the new Sappho. The Luvian word for “sky, heaven,” represented as a bowl in Hieroglyphic, is the likeliest source of the (...) Greek word depas, Mycenean dipas, in the second millennium, together with the associative semantics of depas and “heaven” evidenced in Hittite and Luvian texts in the second millennium, and in early Greek poetry in the first. (shrink)

As the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology, Cambridge, celebrates its tenth anniversary the Vice-Principal reflects on the emerging charism of this house of study and prayer for Roman Catholic women. In describing first of all the structural patterns of life and courses available at the Institute, some sense of the shape of the central core of Margaret Beaufort's purpose begins to be disclosed. This 'inner secret' gains sharper definition through reflection on the women who have been a part of the (...) Institute's life; their diverse yet shared sense of vocation, typified by risk and openness to God's unknown future fleshes out the nature of the Institute's charism. Finally, the idea of the development of Christian 'intellectual' discipleship is explored, through the experiences of working, praying and studying at the Institute. What emerges is a fresh way of looking at the particular contribution made by a group of Catholic women to this discipleship of intellect, transcending limitations of gender questions, whilst remaining true to the particular reality they embody. (shrink)