The Psychology Labs in the Sarah Swift building are used by the School of Psychology for research projects in areas such as forensic psychology, perception and cognition, development and social behavior, and autism.

A demonstration of the Birth Simulator mannequin that Nursing and Midwifery students can use on their course.

A brief demonstration of what it is like to stand in our body scanner located in the Psychology labs.

The clinical suites in the Sarah Swift building are used by the School of Health and Social Care to simulate real hospital and home environments, and feature the latest in patient simulation technology.

The Moot court is used by Lincoln Law School and is a mock-court environment which students can utilise as part of their studies.

The journey through the criminal justice system is turbulent and changes the life-course, for better or worse, of large numbers of people (Bierie and Mann, 2017). The Supporting People After Remand or Conviction (SPARC) project was set up by Lincolnshire Action Trust and HMP Lincoln to meet the Bradley Report (2009) recommendations. SPARC provides a fully integrated service to people sentenced or remanded by the courts, in their transition into prison custody. SPARC aims to assist those entering prison to meet their basic needs and ensure better treatment with transparency and fairness. This provides them with a better opportunity to engage in their prison sentences, address their behaviour and successfully reintegrate into the community. Conducted in partnership with the University of Lincoln, SPARC data assessed the needs of people at the point of entering into custody and tested the impact of the model. Men who received the SPARC intervention displayed significantly higher levels of wellbeing. Focus group feedback indicated short and long-term impact. SPARC is an effective model in which the specific needs of prisoners are better addressed when entering prison custody....

The work of parliaments is crucial to democracy. It is about making parliaments more transparent, representative, responsive and better able to scrutinise the actions and legislation of governments. These projects look at two different aspects of the work of parliament: the ways in which the Westminster parliament engages with the public (drawing on a procedural justice perspective); and the work of the Commons Liaison Committee in questioning the Prime Minister. These are new perspectives partly in their focus, but also because each project has been conducted from ‘inside’ parliament as an academic fellow. The research suggests that much of Westminster’s work is underpinned by ideas that reflect ideas of procedural justice (a fair process), although there could be more shared learning across the institution. The Liaison Committee, containing Chairs of the select committees, could be more effective when questioning the Prime Minister....

Sleep is fundamental to wellbeing, affecting health, sickness, life, death, mental function, productivity, and the wider economy. Insomnia, the commonest psychological disorder, affecting 40% of adults annually and 10% long-term, is poorly managed. Members of the Community and Health Research Unit (CaHRU) have led research into primary care of insomnia over the past two decades, working with major academic institutions (Oxford, Manchester, Glasgow, Ghent), service users, staff and healthcare organisations, locally, nationally and internationally. Using systematic reviews, observational and qualitative studies, quasi-experiments and trials, we have explored how primary care for sleep might be improved using psychological treatments, and what effect this is having on sleep, prescribing, and health outcomes. This has led to publication of two major randomised control trials in the past year showing benefits of psychological sleep treatment on prevention of mental health and daytime functioning. We also describe our ongoing work with Lincolnshire general practices on a major multi-centre trial, the Health professional Administered Brief Insomnia Therapy (HABIT) study, funded by National Institute for Health Research (£1.8M), investigating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of sleep restriction therapy in primary care. Prof Niro Siriwardena will be joined by Lincolnshire practice nurse Helen Todd, working on the HABIT trial....

In order to study human society, social scientists draw upon a variety of information, including measurements of societal or individual phenomena - data. It is an enduring challenge to capture appropriate data to help understand complex societal issues. Many researchers are, therefore, keen to explore the potential of new sources of data. Collection of data – your data, our data - has become ever-present in today’s digitally connected landscape, so it is important to balance the potential benefit to our understanding against legitimate concerns regarding data use. ‘Big Data’ has been both heralded as a panacea and demonised as unethical. This talk presents part of a collaborative project, the ESRC Strategic Network for Obesity, in which we summarised ways that new forms of data had been used creatively in academic obesity literature. Data from sources as varied as transport cameras to fitness trackers, from retail sales to social media, have already been used to investigate diet or physical activity. These data offered unique opportunities in scope, population access, objectivity and immediacy. At the same time, there are critical questions regarding the appropriateness of ‘repurposing’ data for obesity research: issues of data access and ownership, data quality and representativeness of the population....