Periodic Reporting for period 1 - P4PLAY (People, Place, Policy and Practice for Play)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2020-03-01 al 2022-02-28
The P4PLAY Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network (MSC ITN) is a European Joint Doctorates (EJD) programme in Occupational Science for Occupational Therapists. There is a significant shortage of researchers in Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy in Europe, with only five European countries offering PhDs in Occupational Therapy and none offering PhDs in Occupational Science. This severely restricts professional education and practice, and ultimately impacts children, families and communities who receive occupational therapy services. Therefore, the societal challenge for improving health professionals’ training and knowledge in evidence-based practice is a priority for the profession. This EJD programme responds to this challenge in Occupational Therapy career development across Europe through the study of play from an occupational science perspective.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989) is the backbone of the P4PLAY research programme. This convention recognises the importance of ensuring that governments take strategic action to address children’s rights to play, while recognising their right to equality and the right to have a say in decisions that affect them. The UNCRC makes specific provision for the rights of children with disabilities, migrant children and children belonging to minority groups, addressing issues of well-being, identity and participation. More recently, the Committee has recognised the importance of children in the digital age, children’s role as human rights defenders and their relationship to our environment. According to the UN Secretary General in October 2021, the time has come to mainstream children’s rights, to take action to address the lack of a system-wide approach. This supports the case for a holistic approach to research with and for children.
Informed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989), the foundational rationale for P4PLAY is to combine the needs of those who work with children at risk of play deprivation, with the research skills of academics who are experts in occupational science. The overall research objectives are to develop new knowledge on the occupation of play and play deprivation; outline the impact of physical, socio-cultural, and policy environments on play provision; and develop solutions to address barriers to play provision in diverse community settings. This research responds to the societal challenge of ensuring health, well-being and equality for children (UN Sustainable Goals 3 & 10), and the expected outcomes aim to benefit children, families, and communities.
P4PLAY is a collaboration between four academic institutions and partner organisations from across Europe and the USA including government play policy advisors, NGO advocacy groups and designers of play materials. The doctoral programme is centred on training a new generation of early-stage researchers (ESRs) to drive innovative research and practice in occupational science and therapy. The eight ESRs in P4PLAY are provided with the transferable skills necessary for thriving careers in academic or research-based practice via collaborative interinstitutional research projects, international mentorship and access to expertise and training. Their individual research projects address four fundamental areas of play (People, Place, Policy, Practice [P4Play]) which align with the overall goal of the research programme – to progress a rights-based agenda for all children at risk of play deprivation.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989) is the backbone of the P4PLAY research programme. This convention recognises the importance of ensuring that governments take strategic action to address children’s rights to play, while recognising their right to equality and the right to have a say in decisions that affect them. The UNCRC makes specific provision for the rights of children with disabilities, migrant children and children belonging to minority groups, addressing issues of well-being, identity and participation. More recently, the Committee has recognised the importance of children in the digital age, children’s role as human rights defenders and their relationship to our environment. According to the UN Secretary General in October 2021, the time has come to mainstream children’s rights, to take action to address the lack of a system-wide approach. This supports the case for a holistic approach to research with and for children.
Informed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989), the foundational rationale for P4PLAY is to combine the needs of those who work with children at risk of play deprivation, with the research skills of academics who are experts in occupational science. The overall research objectives are to develop new knowledge on the occupation of play and play deprivation; outline the impact of physical, socio-cultural, and policy environments on play provision; and develop solutions to address barriers to play provision in diverse community settings. This research responds to the societal challenge of ensuring health, well-being and equality for children (UN Sustainable Goals 3 & 10), and the expected outcomes aim to benefit children, families, and communities.
P4PLAY is a collaboration between four academic institutions and partner organisations from across Europe and the USA including government play policy advisors, NGO advocacy groups and designers of play materials. The doctoral programme is centred on training a new generation of early-stage researchers (ESRs) to drive innovative research and practice in occupational science and therapy. The eight ESRs in P4PLAY are provided with the transferable skills necessary for thriving careers in academic or research-based practice via collaborative interinstitutional research projects, international mentorship and access to expertise and training. Their individual research projects address four fundamental areas of play (People, Place, Policy, Practice [P4Play]) which align with the overall goal of the research programme – to progress a rights-based agenda for all children at risk of play deprivation.
To date the project has achieved the following:
- Recruitment, enrolment and formal admission of 8 researchers
- Initiated and successfully implemented the governance and management structures for the project
- All formal agreements associated with P4Play and the EU project completed within the first 6 months of the project including:
- EU grant agreement
- Consortium agreement
- Memorandum of agreement
- joint/paired agreements between beneficiaries
- Development of a new PhD in Occupational Science which has been approved and ratified by University College Cork, along with multiple agreements between consortium members to establish as join Doctoral programme across the 4 beneficiary universities in P4Play
- Successfully completed year one of training and supervision
- Designed and implemented a successful programme of online learning to enable the project to stay on track in terms of mobility during Covid travel restrictions
- All ESR's progress formally reviewed and certified for progression to year 2
- Established relationships with 15 partners enabling secondments to be arranged for each ESR
- Established and regular updating of PCDPs for each ESR
- Dissemination and communication activities initiated through P4Play website, social media presence through a twitter account, 1st Newsletter, poster and oral presentations at conferences and invited interviews with national and local journals and newsletters
- Planned and designed 2nd Year Training School to enable in person learning and network development
- Established supervisory teams for each ESR supplemented by monthly support meetings for capacity building of supervisors
- Recruitment, enrolment and formal admission of 8 researchers
- Initiated and successfully implemented the governance and management structures for the project
- All formal agreements associated with P4Play and the EU project completed within the first 6 months of the project including:
- EU grant agreement
- Consortium agreement
- Memorandum of agreement
- joint/paired agreements between beneficiaries
- Development of a new PhD in Occupational Science which has been approved and ratified by University College Cork, along with multiple agreements between consortium members to establish as join Doctoral programme across the 4 beneficiary universities in P4Play
- Successfully completed year one of training and supervision
- Designed and implemented a successful programme of online learning to enable the project to stay on track in terms of mobility during Covid travel restrictions
- All ESR's progress formally reviewed and certified for progression to year 2
- Established relationships with 15 partners enabling secondments to be arranged for each ESR
- Established and regular updating of PCDPs for each ESR
- Dissemination and communication activities initiated through P4Play website, social media presence through a twitter account, 1st Newsletter, poster and oral presentations at conferences and invited interviews with national and local journals and newsletters
- Planned and designed 2nd Year Training School to enable in person learning and network development
- Established supervisory teams for each ESR supplemented by monthly support meetings for capacity building of supervisors
There is a significant shortage of researchers in Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy in Europe. Only five European countries offer PhDs in Occupational Therapy, while none offer PhDs in Occupational Science, which severely restricts professional education and practice and ultimately impacts patients, and families, who receive occupational therapy services. Therefore, the societal challenge for improving health professionals training and knowledge in evidence-based practice is a priority for the profession. This European Joint Doctorates programme responds to this challenge in Occupational Therapy career development across Europe through the study of play from an occupational science perspective. The overall research goal is to develop new knowledge on the occupation of play and play deprivation, the impact of physical, socio-cultural, and policy environments on play provision, and the development of innovative solutions to address barriers and provide solutions to play provision in diverse community settings to benefit children, families and communities. The P4Play programme addresses four areas of play: play occupation, policy, place and practice. The EJD will establish the first innovative trans-European Occupational Therapy doctoral training programme dedicated to play occupation, participation, policy and practice. The fundamental aim is to develop a sustainable doctoral programme that delivers ambitious and high-quality graduates to drive innovative research and practice in occupational science and therapy. Increasing occupational therapist's ability to be consumers and producers of research is vital to transform therapy practice so that it is research-informed and evidence-based. The overall goal is to build the capacity of therapists to develop creative solutions towards social transformation.