Dr Myfanwy Davies
Senior Lecturer in Social Policy
Head of Quality Enhancement (Quality Enhancement Unit)
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Additional Contact Information
Myfanwy Davies is interested in the interaction of language, gender and power in the accounts of women and minorities as users of welfare services and in illness and disability narratives. She read English Language and Literature at Oriel College, Oxford and went on to read Social Anthropology at Girton College, Cambridge. She pursued an interest in information exchange by studying for a further MSc in Information Management, in the course of which she produced her first papers on Somali women’s accounts of using maternity services in Sheffield. Her PhD (London) focuses on the accounts of Arab Muslim women as users of maternity services in London in the period immediately following 9/11.
Myfanwy returned to Wales in 2005 as a researcher in health policy and joined Bangor in 2011 as a lecturer with the Coleg Cenedlaethol. Having successfully introduced a range of teaching and learning improvements and QA processes as Moderator for Bangor’s provision in Tashkent and served as Deputy dean (Teaching and learning) for the College of Business, Law, Education and Social Sciences, she was appointed Head of Quality Assurance and Validation at Bangor in late 2018. She is currently involved in introducing a risk-based approach to programme approval. She remains research active. Her current, personal research focuses on mothers’ experiences of being the subject of social policy interventions.
School of History, Philosophy and Social Sciences/QAV Unit.
01248 382140
@DrMyfanwyDavies
Teaching and Supervision
My teaching traces processes and practices of policy formation within a devolved UK with a particular emphasis of health in Wales. It also draws on multi-disciplinary perspectives to understand the experience of addiction (to substances or behaviours) for individuals and to enable students to critically engage with what it means to recover from addiction.
Llywodraethiant: Iechyd a Lles
My innovative module on Governance in Health and Welfare was introduced in 2016. It examines policy and practice by focusing on key concepts such as responsibility, civil society, the “hollowing out of the state”, partnership, public participation, the valorization of ‘active citizenship’ and the use of targets and incentives to drive practitioner behaviour.
The Addicted Body/Y Corff Caeth – co-authored with Dr. Paul Carre
Using contemporary theories of the Body including phenomenology and governmentality, this module examines a range of addictions. It considers both the experience of embodiment and the symbolic role of the body in society as a means to discuss the emergence and experience of conditions as diverse as drug and alcohol addiction, anorexia, web addiction and sex addiction. It also introduces the biomedical and biopsychosocial understandings of addiction and recovery and uses Boudieusian theory and ethnographic methods to understand to cultural and social context of addictive behaviour and the living conditions that are, in part, created by the drug business and the policy interventions it attracts it within specific localities.
Dissertation (3rd year)Module Coordinator
All undergraduates within the School of Social Science currently prepare a dissertation during years 2 and 3. While all students are matched with a supervisor who will meet with them regularly to offer advice and feedback, the choice of subject is open and students are expected to develop their work largely independently. As module coordinator for the Welsh medium dissertation module I prepare a series of workshops that seek to teach students to carry out independent research. These include teaching on forming and developing a research question, collecting and analysing data together with advice on preparing the final draft.
PhD Supervisions
My current supervisions include an ethnographic study of disability and work within a family network (Williams), a biographical study of carers’ identity and concepts of person-centredness, the experiences of Welsh-speaking stroke patients in terms of treatment and support (ap Gruffydd) and the cultural context of popular music choices in two generations in Gwynedd (ap Rhisiart).
Research Interests
I have a long-term interest in the cultural and social context of decision making in Health and Social care that dates back to my Masters’ dissertation on Somali women and maternity services (see publication list). More recently I have used a Bourdieusian framework to understand choices such as vaccination and sexual health decision making (see also supervisions). I am currently interested in the experience of ‘living policy’ among those who are subject to such as welfare recipients, young mothers and mothers as healthcare and childcare decision makers (see current research projects). I also contribute to collaborative work that assesses how Governments position themselves in relation to concepts such individual and collective responsibility, equality, rights and ‘value for money’ through the discourse analysis of key policy documents.
Postgraduate Project Opportunities
Publications
2022
- PublishedProfessional identities in Higher Education: expanding a practitioner-led study to a wider context
Davies, M., Clayton, S. & Roushan, G., 7 Jun 2022, p. xx.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review - PublishedStudent engagement in learning in Higher Education, QAA Cymru Collaborative Enhancement Project.
Davies, M., Ahn, M. Y., Samuel, R. & Owen, J., 15 Mar 2022, 50 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report - PublishedYmchwil Gwerthuso Prosiect Tîm o Amgylch y Person Ifanc (TAPI) GISDA
Davies, M. & ap Gruffudd, G. S., 20 Oct 2022, 55 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
2021
- PublishedCurriculum innovation in a complex HE environment: Where to now?
Davies, M., Clayton, S., Roushan, G. & Williams, N., 7 Jul 2021, p. x.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review
2017
- PublishedAdeiladu gwydnwch trwy 'Rhieni Ifanc Ni’: astudiaeth ymchwil
Davies, M., Wyn Jones, K. & Williams, E., 16 Jan 2017, Prifysgol Bangor University. 92 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report - PublishedListening to the Voices of Young Mothers as users of a programme to build Resilience in Gwynedd: Bangor Interdisciplinary Conference on Childhood and Youth.
Davies, M. & Wyn Jones, K., 28 Jun 2017.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review - PublishedWomen’s perspectives on Human Papillomavirus self-sampling in the context of the UK cervical screening programme
Williams, D., Davies, M., Fiander, A., Farewell, D., Hillier, S. & Brain, K., Oct 2017, In: Health Expectations. 20, 5, p. 1031-1040 20 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2013
- PublishedFraming patient consent for student involvement in pelvic examination: a dual model of autonomy
Davies, M., Carson-Stevens, A., Davies, M. M., Jones, R., Chik, A. D., Robbé, I. J. & Fiander, A. N., 1 Nov 2013, In: Journal of Medical Ethics. 39, 11, p. 676
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedHow hard can it be to include research evidence and evaluation in local health policy implementation? Results from a mixed methods study
Evans, B. A., Snooks, H., Howson, H. & Davies, M., 12 Feb 2013, In: Implementation Science. 8, 17
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - Published‘Distributed health literacy’: longitudinal qualitative analysis of the roles of health literacy mediators and social networks of people living with a long-term health condition
Edwards, M., Wood, F., Davies, M. & Edwards, A., 17 Jun 2013, In: Health Expectations. 18, 5, p. 1180-1193
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2011
- PublishedWhat constitutes consent when parents and daughters have different views about having the HPV vaccine: qualitative interviews with stakeholders
Wood, F., Morris, L., Davies, M. & Elwyn, G., 1 Aug 2011, In: Journal of Medical Ethics. 37, 8, p. 466-471
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2009
- PublishedThe health, social care and housing needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender older people: a review of the literature
Addis, S., Davies, M., Greene, G., MacBride-Stewart, S. & Shepherd, M., 1 Nov 2009, In: Health and Social Care in the Community. 17, 6, p. 647-658
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedWhat are the external influences on information exchange and shared decision-making in healthcare consultations: A meta-synthesis of the literature
Edwards, M., Davies, M. & Edwards, A., 1 Apr 2009, In: Patient Education and Counseling. 75, 1, p. 37-52
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2008
- PublishedAdvocating Mandatory Patient ‘Autonomy’ in Healthcare: Adverse Reactions and Side Effects
Davies, M. & Elwyn, G., 1 Dec 2008, In: Health Care Analysis. 16, 4, p. 315-328
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Projects
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01/02/2022 – 28/02/2023 (Finished)
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01/11/2013 – 11/07/2017 (Finished)