Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Alison Kay and Anne Goriely, together with Minna Jeffery (St. Anne’s College) and Lisa Hinton (Nuffield Dept. of Primary Care Health Sciences), have won an award from the University of Oxford’s PCER Fund for a project called “Making it personal”, which will use theatre to explore public perception of a new form of genetic testing.

An drawing-style illustration of a small wooden stage with red curtains framing a blue cloudy sky backdrop. © aboikis | Adobe Stock

The Public and Community Engagement with Research (PCER) Fund is an internal grant scheme supported by the University’s Higher Education & Innovation Fund (HEIF) allocation and Participatory Research Fund from Research England.

The project, “Making it Personal” uses theatre as a creative medium for engagement to explore the implications (benefits, limitations, perceptions) of a new genomic test aiming to personalize pregnancy recurrence risks for parents of children with serious genetic conditions.

Theatre creates a unique opportunity to “set the scene” on a personal level, depicting individual experiences and combining emotional with rational responses. This is particularly useful for talking about perceptions of risk because we know these differ greatly between people. This participatory theatre project aims to generate new knowledge and inform best practice in clinical conversations.

Project lead Dr Alison Kay, a postdoctoral researcher in the Goriely Group,  said:

We’re really excited to have this opportunity to offer something different. Script co-production and workshop theatre offer a dynamic and unique opportunity to explore the myriad influences on a couple’s perception of recurrence risk in pregnancy. This engagement project will move beyond the clinic and the risk percentage to explore how people make sense of risk in their relationships, communities and everyday lives.

This innovative engagement project is also supported by the Centre for Personalised Medicine (CPM), where Dr Kay is a research fellow.

Learn more about the fund and the other award winners on the PCER Fund website.

We want to hear about your news!

Publishing a paper? Just won an award? Get in touch with communications@rdm.ox.ac.uk

 

Similar stories

Major international career award for Dr Roshan Xavier

Congratulations to Dr Roshan Xavier who has won a major international career award at the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance for his DPhil research into a common form of heart failure called HFpEF.