PhD Study : Co-production methods and practice for visualisation of pain: Consensus and individuality in the communication of pain within a universal health phenomenon

Apply and key information  

Summary

This research will be led by a creative practitioner (artist, maker, photographer, designer) and will use art co-production methodologies to bring together professional and community production, understanding and utilisation of visual representations of pain.

*How can coproduction using art, photography or digital visualisation expand pain dialogue?

*How do individuals negotiate a shared visualisation of the subjective experience of pain?

*What is the impact, if any, of a negotiated co-produced visualisation of pain?

Many people with chronic pain feel they are not understood and sometimes not believed because pain is invisible. Evidence suggests sex differences in pain (Bartley & Fillingim, 2013). Text, numerical and visual scales for the communication of pain are widely used. They are most often tested for efficacy in communicating an individual’s pain at a moment in a medical intervention (a consultation, diagnostic or trauma scenario) or along a continuum such progressive or rehabilitative pain monitoring and sometimes for comparison between individuals. An individual’s visualisation of pain can be a CBT technique (Powell 2017). It may enhance understanding around circumstances of pain and some claim it effects perceptions of pain or aids pain relief (Koenig, Sevinc et al 2015). The best such tools have transformed understanding of pain including in users with difficulty communicating.

This research will expand on existing theory and practice to investigate how co-production may enhance pain dialogue. Research will include investigation of aspects of shared experience that are often omitted from individual uses of the traditional measures. The researcher will propose methods that are appropriate to their creative practice and chosen focus. Using visual art methods (which might include painting, drawing, making, photography, digital representation) they will develop parameters to research co-produced visualisation of pain. This might include:

*Identify a condition, community or focus clinical communication of pain is evident (eg migraine, diabetes, or an age-related pain focus).

*Consider relevant time lines –for example the duration of diagnosis, treatment, intervention or rehabilitation over time; contemporaneous or remembered.

*Consider the parameters of relevant co-production community (people with /without the condition, carers, medical professionals, public). Reflect and reference how co-production is located within literature through art therapy, aesthetics, professional art practice/expertise and community dialogue.

*Rigorously investigate the visual language and materials employed and negotiated in co-production of visualisation.

*Consider and investigate how the abstract thinking required for conventional pain scales (Tsui, Chen et al 2010) is disrupted by dialogue about the pain visualisation and how it varies in different protocols for co-production (face 2 face, online, occasional, regular, durational, technology enables or analogue, iterative or responsive v. simultaneous and so on).

*The researcher will navigate ethical and consent issues.

*The researcher will user test the resulting visualisations using appropriate methods to harvest and analyse the effectiveness of this new pain visual language. Within this Practice-Based research, the researcher will create an image or visualisation archive and document the role of dialogue in co-production and potential applications for these visualisations.

*This research is not proposed to extend to a clinical trial of healing through visualization.

Essential criteria

Applicants should hold, or expect to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class Honours Degree in a subject relevant to the proposed area of study.

We may also consider applications from those who hold equivalent qualifications, for example, a Lower Second Class Honours Degree plus a Master’s Degree with Distinction.

In exceptional circumstances, the University may consider a portfolio of evidence from applicants who have appropriate professional experience which is equivalent to the learning outcomes of an Honours degree in lieu of academic qualifications.

  • Sound understanding of subject area as evidenced by a comprehensive research proposal
  • A comprehensive and articulate personal statement

Desirable Criteria

If the University receives a large number of applicants for the project, the following desirable criteria may be applied to shortlist applicants for interview.

  • Research project completion within taught Masters degree or MRES
  • Practice-based research experience and/or dissemination
  • Work experience relevant to the proposed project

Funding and eligibility

The University offers the following levels of support:

Vice Chancellors Research Studentship (VCRS)

The following scholarship options are available to applicants worldwide:

  • Full Award: (full-time tuition fees + £19,000 (tbc))
  • Part Award: (full-time tuition fees + £9,500)
  • Fees Only Award: (full-time tuition fees)

These scholarships will cover full-time PhD tuition fees for three years (subject to satisfactory academic performance) and will provide a £900 per annum research training support grant (RTSG) to help support the PhD researcher.

Applicants who already hold a doctoral degree or who have been registered on a programme of research leading to the award of a doctoral degree on a full-time basis for more than one year (or part-time equivalent) are NOT eligible to apply for an award.

Please note: you will automatically be entered into the competition for the Full Award, unless you state otherwise in your application.

Department for the Economy (DFE)

The scholarship will cover tuition fees at the Home rate and a maintenance allowance of £19,000 (tbc) per annum for three years (subject to satisfactory academic performance).

This scholarship also comes with £900 per annum for three years as a research training support grant (RTSG) allocation to help support the PhD researcher.

  • Candidates with pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, who also satisfy a three year residency requirement in the UK prior to the start of the course for which a Studentship is held MAY receive a Studentship covering fees and maintenance.
  • Republic of Ireland (ROI) nationals who satisfy three years’ residency in the UK prior to the start of the course MAY receive a Studentship covering fees and maintenance (ROI nationals don’t need to have pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme to qualify).
  • Other non-ROI EU applicants are ‘International’ are not eligible for this source of funding.
  • Applicants who already hold a doctoral degree or who have been registered on a programme of research leading to the award of a doctoral degree on a full-time basis for more than one year (or part-time equivalent) are NOT eligible to apply for an award.

Due consideration should be given to financing your studies. Further information on cost of living

The Doctoral College at Ulster University

Key dates

Submission deadline
Monday 19 February 2018
12:00AM

Interview Date
12- to 16 March 2018

Preferred student start date
mid September 2018

Applying

Apply Online  

Contact supervisor

Professor Karen Fleming

Other supervisors