Finding Soho

Among other factors, one factor that distinguishes health services research in developed countries from health services research in developing countries is that the former uses a strong implementation science framework to drive and measure quality improvement. There is a strong emphasis on measuring and assessing service delivery and the implementation of initiatives. Busy clinicians don’t always have the time to measure and assess service delivery, or to undertake implementation research. Healthcare managers can help to do this work but the discipline of healthcare management does not really exist outside developed countries. It has also been quite enlightening to see how qualitative research methods and approaches are used in healthcare research (for example, to understand patient experiences or clinicians’ perspectives on barriers to and enablers of quality improvement) in developed countries. Sometimes, systems-related quality improvement initiatives can make a huge difference, ev...

Is there space for reflection in this increasingly crowded and fast-paced world? The world seems to be hurtling towards a crowded and busy future, and I feel, increasingly, like I'm falling behind. This is because I am becoming increasingly aware of the importance of reflection and connection with the present. I have experienced a powerful disruption that has forced me to reconsider my disconnection from family and community, from a sense of being embedded in the lives of my loved ones - I have experienced something that has made me very conscious of the fact that time is limited. And, whenever I become engrossed in the minutae of day-to-day living, and planning for the future, I slip back into an unreflective mode, oblivious to the passing of time and the passing of opportunities for connecting with those who matter. This is not enough. 

What turns anyone into a ‘cog in the machine’ of repressive state violence, and how does this happen? The philosopher Hannah Arendt investigated this after the Holocaust. How does a person become a weapon of the state, executing actions and inflicting violence (ostensibly legitimately) on behalf of the state, particularly when they know that the victims are innocent (for want of a better word) fellow citizens who have come together to fight for justice. I know that a lot of people would like to claim that they would be immune to the process if they found themselves in that position; that they would resist the state’s demands and injunctions, and not become a tool of repressive violence. But can one really choose to resist at the crucial moment? Can we suddenly break free from the conceptual, physical and economic bonds that tether us to everything that we know as good, true and worthy of obedience? Sure, maybe there were people - in many different historical contexts - who fully belie...

I would like to write an article aimed at academics, and readers who are interested in education and (particularly) higher education. The academic publishing model is staid and exploitative. Writers and their universities are charged exorbitant fees for the privilege of being published. But there is little, if any, editorial support in the process and, as a result, the quality of the work may not be perfect. Most publishers have outsourced their production work to external operators, often in India and the Philippines, to reduce labour costs. This process has been accompanied by a decimation of the role of the editor, who would otherwise play the role of a guardian of quality. This is egregious, particularly in light of the fact that the academic publishing industry is so profitable. Scholars who have English as a second language may not have the flair of the best writers, and may need time to improve the minor language errors that may mar their work. Everything that goes online n...