Stigma is a major barrier to people being retained in opioid substitution treatment (OST) and recovering from opioid dependency; people who use OST are often stigmatised both for their drug use, as well as the medications they receive (for instance in healthcare settings). People who use crack cocaine and heroin are especially stigmatised and Bristol has a particularly high incidence of people who use both substances concurrently. (read more)

How would care receivers like to experience care in the future? What does it looks like? What is it's materiality? What emotions will it bring? “Bristol Carescapes” is a project about care futures in Bristol that compasses experiential, explorative and collaborative approaches to exploring and envisaging care futures. (read more)

Although grief is a universal, human experience, it still remains a taboo subject for many. By focusing on a personal, lived experience of disenfranchised grief, this research aims to open up conversations about death and bereavement, in a manner that destigmatises grief and promotes compassion and understanding. (read more)

For many urbanites, the pandemic revealed how accessible – or inaccessible – many urban spaces can be. But around the world, different responses to the pandemic led to radically different experiences of access to active leisure and the outdoors. One project sought to explore the experiences of Bristol and its French twin city of Bordeaux. It platformed community organisations that promote running, walking, or cycling, as well as individuals who have tried to stay active throughout the pandemic.   (read more)

What are women’s concerns and questions when contemplating motherhood in the climate crisis? What methods are effective in facilitating non-judgemental dialogue between women who have made different reproduction choices? This project will use therapeutically-informed participatory theatre techniques to collaboratively explore concerns around reproductive decision-making for women in an era of unfolding climate crisis (read more)

Can soft-bodied robots help us to combat isolation and loneliness? (read more)

The project aimed at developing new methodologies in the study of urban learning, setting new research agendas and championing interdisciplinarity. (read more)

How do pubs impact older men’s social connections? One group of researchers wanted to learn more. (read more)

How can medieval churches tackle longstanding issues of uncertainty in contemporary rural life? This research aims to draw on the roles of heritage sites in local, national and transnational activities to help develop place-based responses to rural uncertainty. (read more)