An important and exciting project!

My name is Tom Porter, and I am the newly appointed UEA Research Associate working on the ESRC funded project ‘Personal assistance relationships and disabled people: a qualitative study of emotions, ethics and power’. Over the coming months we will use this blog to give you an insight into the work we’re doing – the types of research methods the study employs, the progress being made with data collection and analysis, and eventually, key findings from this study.  

Prior to this project, I was undertaking doctoral studies at Keele University. During this time, my research looked at the ways in which older people living with multiple chronic conditions experience support, assistance and co-operation from friends, family and the wider community. I have also been involved in research which looked at the experience of people living with dementia in residential care, and more recently, a project which explored the role of social support in the lives of older people living with HIV.  Throughout these projects, a common thread has always been the ways in which disabled people and people living with illness work together, assist one another, and co-operate with their wider social networks. It goes without saying that I am keen to extend this academic interest into the domain of personal assistance relationships. More importantly though, I am excited, and determined, to help deliver a project which contributes towards improving personal assistance relationships, and furthers the choice and control disabled people have over their lives.

Having arrived in Norwich just over a week ago, from a personal point of view, the potential and value of this research project is really beginning to hit home! My immediate feelings are those of excitement and enthusiasm. I have been impressed by the fact that disabled people are to be at the core of this project, and I’m really pleased to be working in a research team which share the ideals of self-determination for, and empowerment of, people living with disability. The coming months are going to be extremely busy, and I look forward to keeping you informed about any major developments through this blog.

Tom Porter.

We're ready to go!

The PA Relationships study officially begins on 1 November 2015, and we welcome our researcher, Dr Tom Porter, who has come to us from a PhD at the University of Keele. 

Tom's doctorate was a qualitative study with older people who experience multiple chronic illnesses, exploring their social networks and other community resources.  Previously Tom studied History at University of Hull and Social Research at the University of Warwick.  We are very excited to welcome Tom back to Norwich to begin work on this innovative and important project.

We have not been idle in preparing for Tom's arrival.   Our application for research ethics clearance from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Research Ethics Committee has already been submitted, was discussed in October, and we hope that permission will be speedily negotiated.

During the first few months of the project, we will be ensuring we are up to date on background literature, and fine-tuning our methodology.  We hope to begin data collection early in 2015.

In the coming months, we hope to update this blog with regular posts, explaining the detailed goals of the study, exploring the data collection approaches we are using, and discussing interesting research papers.  We will also introduce members of the team, and the wonderful group of people who we are working with, both in the advisory group and in the disabled people's organisations who are helping us recruit participants to the study.