At Manchester, public engagement means the many ways we share ideas and research; inspire discussion, debate and creativity; and involve the public with our work. Each month we will bring you one of the stories highlighted in our booklet “Our Engagement Stories”. But our engagement story doesn’t end here. We want to hear about more engagement stories. To find out more get in touch with Dee-Ann Johnson, Public Engagement Manager.

NHS at 70: The Story of Our Lives

Over 70 years ago the NHS was created to provide free and universal access to healthcare. The lived experiences of workers, patients, volunteers and the public encapsulate a unique part of British history. The NHS’s political and policy history has been well studied by historians but little is known about the human stories of its patients and workers. NHS at 70: The Story of Our Lives is the first shared social history project of the NHS.

Led by Dr Stephanie Snow and working with organisations such as Age UK, the Mental Health Foundation, and NHS England, this project trains volunteers from a range of ages and backgrounds to gather stories from NHS patients and workers as well as politicians and the wider public. Many of the Health Service’s first patients and workers are now in their 80s and 90s, and the 70th anniversary of the NHS in 2018 presented one of the last opportunities to record their stories.

160 people, young and old and from all walks of life, are being trained to gather stories and artefacts and 70 young people aged 14-25 are acting as community reporters, filming stories in their local area. These testimonies, from everyday users and workers, to policymakers, MPs and trade union officials, will contribute to a multimedia, publicly accessible record, filling existing gaps in its history, and recording the personal stories that make the service so unique. Using a web site, people will be able to submit their stories by uploading recordings, photographs and documents. The project is also creating a touring exhibition, a programme of events and a feature film.

Help us save the history the NHS

If you’d like to help to raise funds to support our ongoing work; creating an archive of NHS history through the voices of the people who have worked for and been treated by the NHS, you can contribute to our crowdfunding until 1 March – Find out more.

At Manchester, public engagement means the many ways we share ideas and research; inspire discussion, debate and creativity; and involve the public with our work. Each month we will bring you one of the stories highlighted in our booklet “Our Engagement Stories.” But our engagement story doesn’t end here. We want you to share your engagement stories too. To find out more get in touch with Dee-Ann Johnson, Public Engagement Manager.

Everyday Austerity

At the height of the public spending cuts, the Everyday Austerity research project looked at the impact the austerity policies were having on everyday life for families and communities in Greater Manchester.

Dr Sarah Marie Hall spent two years working with six families in Manchester gathering first-hand personal stories to better understand the personal impacts of austerity on everyday family life to inform policy and ultimately improve livelihoods. She also advised, trained and empowered groups and communities to tackle the resulting social injustices.

Sarah’s findings were presented in a touring exhibition that turned these peoples’ stories into a series of drawings, photographs, audio excerpts and objects to ‘lift the lid’ on austerity and bring these experiences of everyday austerity to life. Several thousand people have viewed the exhibition as it has travelled round venues in Greater Manchester. A zine was also produced, illustrated by Claire Springer, and hard copies circulated widely.

The Everyday Austerity research project has influenced a range of policy stakeholders and decision-makers, including the Women’s Budget Group International Network which debates and raises awareness of gender and economic policy to influence government, and have informed Manchester City Council’s Family Poverty Strategy.

And now Sarah has published, Everyday Life in Austerity: Family, Friends and Intimate Relations (Palgrave Macmillan) revealing how austerity is a deeply personal and social condition, with impacts that spread across and between everyday relationships, spaces and temporal perspectives.

At Manchester, public engagement means the many ways we share ideas and research; inspire discussion, debate and creativity; and involve the public with our work. Each month we will bring you one of the stories highlighted in our booklet “Our Engagement Stories”. But our engagement story doesn’t end here. We want you to share your engagement stories too. To find out more get in touch with Dee-Ann Johnson, Public Engagement Manager.

The Lived Experience of Climate Change: A Story of One Piece of Land in Dhaka

This innovative project aimed to examine the everyday realities and impact of climate change on the lives of slum dwellers in Dhaka, Bangladesh. After talking to over 600 people living in a slum, Dr Joanne Jordan set out to communicate her findings to a diverse audience in an accessible and engaging way, which challenged pre-existing notions of how ordinary people experience and deal with climate change.

Joanne teamed up with Theatre and Performance Studies colleagues and students at the University of Dhaka to explore the research findings through a traditional folk performance combining melody, drama, pictures and dancing, known as a Pot Gan. The script was based on direct testimony of the people engaged though the research. The Pot Gan was performed in the slum where the research was conducted and at the 10th International Conference on Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change. There was also a performance at the British Council in Dhaka where researchers, practitioners and policy makers were encouraged to reflect on the day to day realities of the urban poor living with climate change.

To bring the stories from the Dhaka slum dwellers to a larger international audience, the performances were filmed to produce a documentary. This was premiered at the Manchester Museum’s Climate Control exhibition and since going online the film has been viewed over 100,000 times. Find out more about The Lived Experience of Climate Change.

*photo credit: Jashim Salam