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There is a growing trend across the social sciences to engage with archives. Within human geography, this has stimulated a debate about the nature of archives, including moving from considering 'archive as source' to 'archive as subject.' We build on and extend this thinking, suggesting that an even more active appreciation of the dynamic nature of relationships between researchers, owners of records, and archival material is needed. This paper draws on an interdisciplinary study of voluntary action and welfare provision in England in the 1940s and 2010s to highlight how the different iterative processes involved in collaborative archival research are part of what we call co‐curation. Co‐curation involves the negotiated identification, selection, preparation, and interpretation of archival materials. This has implications for both research processes and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving successful multi‐stakeholder collaboration for sustainable outcomes is complex. This paper provides key principles for future co‐design projects aimed at fostering an inclusive approach to research. These have been developed based on a novel methodology that co‐designed the essential components of a long‐term, collaborative agreement for a nature recovery scheme in England. Using an assortment of iterative, deliberative participatory methods, this research engaged a wide variety of stakeholders to produce a template agreement for an agri‐environmental policy. We demonstrate that a flexible, highly reflective approach resulted in positive engagement with previously marginalised stakeholders. The approach also successfully navigated the unequal power dynamics seen both within and between groups. Finally, multiple feedback loops allowed participants to continually build on previous interactions as they developed and reviewed the agreement. By drawing out the complexities of the co‐design process, this paper explains how co‐design efforts can produce potentially transformative outputs. We hope that the principles introduced here offer a useful starting point for those planning to undertake multi‐stakeholder co‐design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the use of emancipatory research principles in archival research and contends with the suitability of academic conventions that characterise ethical practice when the research goal is to elevate the voices of marginalised historical groups. Drawing on a case study of Le Court Cheshire Home, England (1948–1975) to address a critical gap in the literature, I highlight some ethical dilemmas I encountered when working at the nexus of historical geography and geographies of disability. This paper demonstrates what an emancipatory research approach means for an archival study of disability, using examples to illustrate how ethical decisions impacted all stages of the research design and the write‐up of findings. I argue that ethics should not be envisaged solely as an approval process completed at the project's outset. Rather, the explorative nature of archival research necessitates that ethics should be an iterative undertaking, with archival sources having the potential to shape both the content and conduct of the research. The paper uses a case study of Le Court Cheshire Home to explore research ethics and the applicability of emancipatory research principles for an archival study of disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the potential difficulties associated with researching controversial and/or sensitive issues. Drawing on the findings from in-depth interviews with farmers, the paper provides a reflexive commentary on the use of visual vignettes to explore farmers' attitudes towards the control of bovine tuberculosis in England - currently a highly controversial subject. Five short video clips were shown to interviewees to prompt discussions about different aspects of disease control, including methods to vaccinate and cull badgers. Visual vignettes have not been used widely outside the fields of health and social care. The method is used here to encourage interviewees to discuss sensitive issues related to badger control, including their trust in various stakeholders involved in the management of bovine tuberculosis, their own knowledge and understanding about disease control, and their attitudes towards control methods. The results suggest that visual vignettes have a number of advantages that could benefit research in human geography and the wider social sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new flood risk policy discussion in England has started to redefine national policy regarding flood and coastal risk management. The key issue in the new policy agenda is to encourage the responsibilities of local authorities in flood risk management, which involve defining local strategies to manage local risks. This downscaling process in flood risk management has a series of consequences in the development of new governance structures and institutions as well as new working relations and intervention strategies. Nevertheless, the main problem is the gap between the downscaling of responsibility and the transfer of resources; in particular the question concerning funding and social capacity. In this way, the focus of policy discussion refers to two main aspects: (a) the equitable sharing of risk-burdens between public authorities, private companies and individuals and (b) how to encourage government agencies and nongovernment agents to take over responsibility for certain tasks from central government. The aim of this paper is to discuss the new funding regime for English flood risk management policy under the new policy paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of our study is to examine whether the widening of the distribution of body mass index (BMI) for England can be explained by compositional changes within the population or contextual changes in the relationships between explanatory variables and BMI. Race, socio‐economic status, and physical activity were important factors in explaining trends at the 90th centile of BMI, with contextual changes more influential than compositional changes. While there is increasing international evidence for the widening of the distribution of body mass index (BMI), there has been little attempt to explain this trend. The aim of our study is to examine whether the trend can be explained by compositional changes within the population or contextual changes in the relationships between explanatory variables and BMI. Data from the Health Survey for England for 2002–2004 and 2012–2014 were used. BMI was our outcome variable and explanatory variables included age, sex, race, education, occupation, and physical activity. We examined how predictors of BMI varied at the 10th, 50th, and 90th percentiles using unconditional quantile regressions. Oaxaca‐Blinder type decomposition analysis was then applied to examine whether contextual or compositional explanations accounted for changes in the distribution between time periods. We found that changes in the nature of relationships observed by our coefficient values accounted for the majority of the difference in BMI at the 90th percentile in 2012–2014 compared to 2002–2004. Race, physical activity, and socio‐economic status were the primary reasons for explaining the continued growth of the right tail of the BMI distribution. Compositional changes in the population were less influential, but may have offset some of the contextual changes to relationships. Changing relationships between predictors of BMI reflect systematic changes in the determinants of BMI, leading to the widening of the BMI distribution. Our results demonstrate the importance of multi‐tiered policies aimed at tackling the varying influences across the BMI distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]