Representing Women: The Introduction, Context, and Implications of Reserved Seats for Women in the National Union of Public Employees

This paper explores the impact of the decision by the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) in 1975 to revise its constitution to include elected reserved seats for women on its executive and other bodies. The analysis is situated within the context of women’s employment and trade-union representation in the UK at the time. Reserved seats for women were part of a wider restructuring of NUPE intended to extend democracy, incorporate the emergent system of shop stewards formally into its structure and government, provide for more effective representation and mobilization of different sections of members, and increase the accountability of full-time officials to lay members and their representatives. The initiative was successful; and although women’s participation in NUPE did increase, this was uneven. This was not entirely unexpected given the limited change initiated in just one haltingly democratizing trade union and the wider social and economic forces that constrain women.

Using the United Kingdom standards for public involvement to evaluate the impact of public involvement in a multinational clinical study

Background The publication of the United Kingdom (UK) Standards for Public Involvement (PI) (UK Standards) in research drew a clear line in the sand regarding the importance of utilising the unique experience, skills and expertise that lay people may offer to the development, conduct and dissemination of clinical research. The UK Standards provide a benchmark which researchers should aim to achieve, yet its implementation continues to be a step wise iterative process of change management. A recent evaluation by a regional research group has suggested that our understanding of PI is enhanced through reflection on the UK Standards. We report on the utility of PI in the design, conduct and dissemination of the HIDDen study, a national, multicentre clinical study based across three UK centres. Methods A retrospective review of PI within the HIDDen study was conducted using field notes taken by the lead author from interactions throughout their involvement as a lay representative on the study. Key members of the HIDDen study were interviewed and data analysed to explore adherence to the UK Standards. Results There was universal support for PI across the study management group with genuine inclusivity of lay members of the committee. All six of the UK Standards were met to varying degrees. The greatest opportunities lay in ‘working together’ and ‘support and learning’. There were challenges meeting ‘governance’ with evidence of participation in decision making but less evidence of opportunities in management, regulation, leadership. Conclusion This study concurs with previous research supporting the utility of the Standards in the conduct and evaluation of PI in clinical research. To our knowledge this is the first multi-national study to be evaluated against the UK Standards.

Ministry Involvement of Church Staff and Volunteers: The Role of Organizational Commitment and Work Engagement

One of the main functions of church leadership in the New Testament is to help people participate in ministry by serving others. However, church leaders may find it difficult to motivate lay volunteers, and even church staff, to do so. What are the factors that motivate ministry involvement? This paper examines the possible role of affective organizational commitment (the degree of emotional attachment to an organization) and work engagement (the degree to which one is immersed in and energized by one’s work) as motivating factors. A study of church members involved in ministry (N =336), including both lay volunteers and paid staff, was conducted to test whether both affective organizational commitment and work engagement predict ministry involvement. The results indicate that both organizational commitment and work engagement contribute to predicting ministry involvement of church staff and lay members. This relationship is true regardless of gender, tenure in the church, or church size. Work engagement is especially important for paid staff compared to lay volunteers. These results indicate that church leaders need to not only encourage commitment, but also to make sure that ministry is engaging and energizing for those who are serving.

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence clinical guidelines development principles and processes

Clinical guidelines are developed by professional societies and also, in England, by an independent non-departmental public body, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Similarities and differences between these guidelines should be viewed in the context of different objectives, responsibilities and roles of guideline developers. This review describes the NICE clinical guidelines development principles and processes with the aim to provide the reader an informed perspective on the recommendations made. NICE clinical guidelines are developed by an appointed independent advisory committee comprising healthcare professionals as well as lay members, supported by a professional team comprising project managers, information specialists, systematic reviewers and health economists. Furthermore, registered stakeholders comprising organisations that have an interest in the guideline topic, or represent people whose practice or care may be directly affected by the guideline, are consulted on the draft scope and draft guidelines. NICE selects a limited number of high impact questions to be answered by the review of evidence, rather than cover a certain topic exhaustively as the clinical guidelines developed by professional societies may do. NICE clinical guidelines recommendations reflect both the clinical effectiveness and the cost-effectiveness of interventions.

Research Ethics in Citizen Science

This chapter outlines some of the main ethical issues in citizen science research, a new research approach that involves lay members of the public in research for which they are not necessarily professionally trained. Although some of this work is covered by existing research ethics regulations, much is not; and it is not clear how to ensure ethical citizen science research. The chapter briefly describes citizen science research, including the nature of its relationship to existing regulations. It also outlines some of the ethical issues that arise in citizen science research—some familiar, some novel—and offers “trust architecture” as a concept to guide researchers in considering how to satisfy the ethical demands of their work.

Social vs. Individual Centrality of Religiosity: Research in Religious and Non-Religious Settings in Russia

Most of the current approaches to measuring religiosity operate with indicators of individual religiosity. One of the central ideas of the current paper is that religiosity is a social phenomenon. The Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRS) developed by S. Huber is applied to measure the individual component of religiosity. A modification of the CRS (CRS-SOC) has been developed to include the social component of religiosity with two aspects: social connections with lay members of religious communities and with the clergy. The analysis is based on the data of two surveys conducted in Russia: an on-line survey with a general population sample (1768 respondents) and a survey of parishioners of four Christian denominations: Orthodox, Catholic, “traditional” Protestant (Lutheran, Baptist), and the “new” Protestant (Pentecostal) (1192 respondents). The structure of religiosity among parishioners of different Christian denominations is discussed. The results, which revealed that the level of religiosity among Orthodox parishioners is slightly lower, are interpreted using the theory of religious economy.

A Joyful Spectrum of Service

In 1853 a small group of nuns arrived on the waterfront of New York City commencing the service of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) to New York City and its environs. In time the Dominicans served in health care, education, parish work, and a myriad of social services. The evolution of the Order of Preachers in New York eventually included friars, nuns, sisters, and lay members—a singular distinction. The Dominican roots in New York spread to other parts of the United States and to various foreign missions.

Educational perspective on interreligious relations among Muslims, Christians and Kaharingan adherents in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how do Muslims, Christians and Kaharingan adherents conduct interreligious relations among them in their everyday lives in Central Kalimantan; why do these religious communities observe interreligious relations as such; and what makes this model of interreligious relations. Design/methodology/approach The corpus for analysis comes from in-depth interviews with 20 persons, which took place between August and October in 2016 in Palangka Raya city and Kotawaringin Timur Regency in Central Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. The informants were selected from groups believed to be lay members and elites of Muslim, Christian and Kaharingan communities using snowball sampling technique facilitated by local research assistants. These informants are mainly mainstream Muslims, Christians and Kaharingan adherents. Findings The way to peaceful and co-existence life lived by religious communities in Indonesia is closely related to its rich treasures and precious tradition of cultural heritage: Indonesian communalism, Indonesian community spirit as seen in terms such as “tradisi hidup bersama,” “semangat kebersamaan” and “satu keluarga.” Instead of emphasizing the divisive differences among communities with various religious backgrounds, Muslims, Christians and Kaharingan adherents in Central Kalimantan create “third spaces,” common grounds shared by these religious communities at individual, institutional and societal levels. Originality/value Based on empirical findings, this research argues that the practices of peaceful and co-existence life lived by diverse religious communities in Indonesia relate to their particular social-cultural contexts of rich treasures and precious tradition of cultural heritage in the forms of Indonesian communalism and community spirit. Instead of emphasizing the divisive differences among themselves, various religious communities in Central Kalimantan create third spaces, common grounds between them and are shared by them at individual, institutional and societal levels.

17. Tribunals

Tribunals have operated for over 200 years. They are essentially specialised courts dealing in specific areas of legal dispute such as employment, housing, immigration, mental health, social benefits, and tax. This chapter explains the development of tribunals from the late eighteenth century to the present day. It examines the major reforms that have taken place in the twenty-first century, resulting in most tribunals being re-organised into ‘chambers’ within the First-tier Tribunal and the Upper Tribunal. The chapter explains the composition of tribunals and the rules on appointment of tribunal members, including lay members. It explains the ways in which tribunal decisions may be challenged, either by way of an appeal to another tribunal or to the mainstream courts, or through judicial review. The chapter examines the advantages of tribunals over mainstream courts but also considers whether, through a process known as ‘legalism’, tribunals are becoming too much like the mainstream courts.

The Power of Place

Investigating the role of geographical location in public engagement with science we examine the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) Partnership’s undertaking of one of the most extensive local public engagements with environmental risk science in the UK. The case study highlights the transformative impacts of this three-year long local engagement on both science and the public. Differently from other invited public engagements, organised as experiments controlled by scientists in spaces set aside from the everyday, the Partnership’s lay members led a process unfolding in the place that was potentially at risk. The Partnership had the authority to demand that scientists addressed issues of local interest. We frame the analysis with the notions ‘re-situating technoscience' and ‘re-assembling the public' to illuminate how scientific knowledge claims were modified and a new local public emerged, at the intersection of public engagement with science and public participation in environmental risk governance.