
Dr Alice Willatt
PhD, Ma, BSc
Current positions
Honorary Research Fellow
School of Education
Contact
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Research interests
My research brings together feminist theories of care and materiality with participatory research practice to explore themes around ageing, care, wellbeing, creativity and digital cultures. My research is grounded in participatory approaches that value the experiences and knowledge of the people and organisations with whom I research, and their ability to use this knowledge to create social change.
I hold interdisciplinary research interests in two key areas. First, I explore the role of place-based community infrastructure, arts and culture, and digital participation in addressing health inequalities, and supporting the wellbeing and civic participation of minoritised older adults. My research responds to Healthy Ageing policy agendas, recognising how they risk excluding minoritized older adults by entrenching a particular imaginary of the (white, able, middle-class) ageing body, promoting individual responsibility, and masking structural inequalities.
Second, my research explores the changing role of the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) against a backdrop of welfare retrenchment and the restructuring of adult health and social care. I work in partnership with VCS organisations situated in areas with socio-economic deprivation, to explore how they negotiate their role in brokering access to and/or delivering community health and wellbeing services, from food aid to social prescribing. My research involves the innovation of participatory methods, and opens dialogue between voluntary and public sector bodies, business, and policymakers, to build a collective capacity for action and social change.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Hoppiness: Brewing with Care Homes
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Investigator
Description
This inter-disciplinary project involves working alongside older adults living in care homes, their carers and brewers to explore the histories and cultures of brewing in the South West and…Managing organisational unit
School for Policy StudiesDates
01/01/2024 to 31/10/2024
Hoppiness: Brewing In Care Homes
Principal Investigator
Description
The project involves a collaboration with Alive Activities to run activity sessions in residential care homes, which explore and celebrate the cultural heritage of brewing and drinking, and provide an…Managing organisational unit
School of EducationDates
22/09/2023 to 30/09/2024
Once upon a Hill: community-led approaches to local economic development
Principal Investigator
Description
This research builds on a Brigstow funded project that explored the role of Robinswood Hill Park in supporting the wellbeing of people living in peripheral housing estates in Gloucester where…Managing organisational unit
School of Management - Business SchoolDates
01/01/2021 to 31/05/2021
Once upon a Hill: An action research inquiry into community engagements with Robinswood Hill Country Park
Principal Investigator
Role
Principal Investigator
Description
A community art project in combination with a country park and a motorway service station.Managing organisational unit
School of Management - Business SchoolDates
01/12/2020 to 31/07/2021
Publications
Selected publications
01/07/2021Emerging Drivers of Vulnerability to Health Inequity in the Context of COVID-19: Perspectives and response from the Voluntary and Community Sector in Wales
Emerging Drivers of Vulnerability to Health Inequity in the Context of COVID-19: Perspectives and response from the Voluntary and Community Sector in Wales
New foodscapes
Life After COVID-19
Embodiment, care and practice in a community kitchen
Gender, Work and Organization
Re-envisaging research on ‘alternatives’ through participatory inquiry: Co-generating knowledge on the social practice of care in a community kitchen
Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization
Recent publications
26/04/2024An Intersectional Lifecourse Lens and Participatory Methods as the Foundations for Co-Designing with and for Minoritised Older Adults
Computer Supported Cooperative Work
Taking care of ageing futures:
Journal of Responsible Innovation
Towards care-full co-design with older adults
Journal of Aging Studies
The view from Robinswood Hill
Educational Action Research
Reshaping the food aid landscape
Tomorrow's Communities