On Tuesday 14th April, the University of Sheffield School for Social Care Care Research (SSCR) was delighted to take part in the Faculty of Social Sciences inaugural Showcase Event at the Wave. This event was a new initiative to highlight the breadth and excellence of research taking place across the Faculty of Social Sciences, and SSCR was given its own stall to profile our excellent work and activities to colleagues. With 13 interactive stalls, a poster exhibition, and a multitude of fringe demos and talks, it was a great opportunity to step outside the office and put our transformative research into the spotlight.
On the day, we were proud to sit beside our colleagues in the Centre for Care, CIRCLE and IMPACT, and also to be representing our cross-faculty partnership with the Faculty of Health (FOH). We were thrilled to speak to colleagues from across all 5 Faculties of the University about our aims in SSCR, our projects, and about how they could get involved, from joining our mailing list for updates, to discussing potential future collaborations in the adult social care space. Our SSCR project PIs and teams came out to champion us in force and we were so happy to have them there to talk to visitors directly about their work, alongside our core directorate team and our research trainees.
Drawing in visitors
In preparation for the showcase, rather than relying solely on traditional academic posters, we tasked our SSCR project teams to design a variety of accessible and engaging promotional tools designed to spark conversation and bring the often complex social issues that our projects represent to life. They did not disappoint!
First up, we designed gift baskets with items that had a symbolic (and sometimes cryptic!) link to each of our projects. They certainly enticed visitors over to our stand, and we were able to use the items as conversation starters.
When quizzed, our visitors were mostly able to guess which items represented which of our projects, how would you get on? Hint: some baskets have items to represent more than one project!
Items Basket 1: a laptop cover and notebook, a loveheart plush toy holding a message “love is love” and a mug with hearts. Basket 2: chocolate bars and a banana pencil case, some noodles, socks and shower gel Basket 3: a game of cards with conversation starters and a squeezy stress toy. | SSCR projects
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See answers at the bottom of the page.
Creative Conversations
For the showcase, Dr Alice Dunning and her team on the digital technology and social care for adults with learning disabilities project created a book of vignettes or short stories as an example of the creative methods used to start conversations within their project. They then used these stories with their Knowledge User Network including adults with a learning disability, family carers, and support providers and the thoughts of the network members were also included in the book to ensure it was truly co-produced. The vignettes are such an effective way to quickly and powerfully demonstrate the focus of the project and were an excellent support on the day.
The showcase was a lovely opportunity to meet with the other SSCR project PIs and to reflect on the progress of the project so far. It was great to chat with colleagues across Faculties and think about how our work could link or inform each other. We really wanted to showcase the creative methods we’ve been using, and to give people a tangible example of our accessible Easy Read resources.
Alice
Professor Sharron Hinchliff showed us how effective artwork can be in promoting research by designing coasters featuring beautiful commissioned pieces by her collaborator Daisy Emillo. The illustrations were directly inspired by the Sexual Rights Charter for older adults, which is a set of co-produced statements that the community, organisations, service providers, and the workforce can adopt to support the sexual rights of people as they age. So many visitors were attracted by how inclusive and representative the designs were which aligns with Sharron’s aims to take the charter into care homes with her SSCR project.
It felt really special to join the SSCR team for the Faculty of Social Science research showcase. Not only was it an opportunity to meet other SSCR project PIs, it gave us the chance to share our work with staff and students from across the University. I enjoyed being given the opportunity to design materials that communicate our research beyond traditional academic formats. We are fortunate to have commissioned artwork from our previous project that we can use going forward. These images really catch the eye, and help to start a conversation about the research.
Sharron
Following the arty theme, Professor Hannah Lambie-Mumford bought along quirky postcard designs from her collaboration with local design agency Nifty Fox for her project on Food and Social Care, meanwhile, Dr Danica Darley bought along visually striking participant recruitment comic books to showcase her project Navigating Neurodisability Through the Prison Gates. The comic book style is fun and appealing while delivering a serious message to potential participants.
Navigating Neurodivergence Comic Strip
Taking part in the showcase was incredibly valuable for us. It created a space where we could present our work in a more engaging and accessible way. Seeing how visitors responded to the comic-style materials showed just how powerful creative approaches can be in sparking interest and making complex topics easier to understand. It’s definitely something we’ll build on in future.
Dani
The showcase was a great opportunity to share details of our research project and connect with other researchers from across the university. It was fantastic to present our work alongside social care researchers and research centres from across the faculty and wider university, and was a great celebration of this key research strength at the University of Sheffield.
Hannah
The showcase was a timely prompt for us to sharpen our skills in designing and producing dissemination and promotional materials, and below are our top five tips from what we’ve learned:
- Ask your experts by experience what they think would be meaningful in terms of branded material - they might not think pens are helpful but think chocolate would be memorable!
- Bear in mind the size of the item you are designing if you want to add text to it, as this will influence the size of the text. Even if the item is small the text needs to be accessible. It can be a challenge to get your writing to fit so think ‘less is more’ and remember that a picture can paint a thousand words
- Make it tangible i.e. Short stories, visuals, or real-life scenarios help people connect quickly with complex ideas.
- Make sure to include QR codes to a URL that you know will remain active throughout your project.
- Always consult accessibility guidance to ensure your colours are high contrast and your fonts legible, even better share your proof as widely as possible to get feedback from others before going to print.
ANSWERS:
Basket 1:
a laptop cover and notebook - represents Digital technology and social care for adults with learning disabilities as examples of items related to new and old forms of technology!
a love heart plush toy holding a message “love is love” and a mug with hearts - represents both ‘What’s love got to do with it?’; Adult social care, people with learning disabilities and love, and Embedding the Sexual Rights Charter in care homes, both in terms of topic (love, sexual health), and in terms of the inclusive nature of both projects.
Basket 2:
chocolate bars and a banana pencil case - these yummy items (both edible and inedible) represent Food and Social Care: Exploring how different services overlap to support people's food needs
some noodles, socks and shower gel - represents Navigating Neurodisability Through the Prison Gates. These three items were recommended as the most useful merchandise ideas by our wonderful project partners with lived experience of prison and we were so happy to honour their ideas on our stall.
Basket 3:
a game of cards with conversation starters and a squeezy stress toy - represents No one wants to talk about it: Exploring transitions in family care for people with learning disabilities. These items represent the need to have difficult conversations in family caring relationships while recognising that they can cause stress.
Congratulations to our winning colleagues, Sarah Givans, Vicky Simpson and Amy Hirst!