Category: Charity Insights 2014

Penultimate week with CWT

Week three at the Trust completed and I’m entering the latter stages of the project. This week my focus was directed towards investigating the Trust’s potential to produce their own biomass wood fuel to almost eliminate heating expenses entirely.

I began Monday morning generally researching this topic to get an overview of the process and identify all aspect that would require consideration. In the afternoon I accompanied one of the team on a visit to two of the Trust’s nature reserves to get some idea of what is there and where it is.

I spent Tuesday morning investigating any legal requirements of producing your own wood fuel, and what the government requires for this to still be eligible for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) payments. The assessment from the first installation consultation had come in with predictions of annual heat demand so I used this to calculate estimates of the annual quantity of wood fuel required. I considered soft and hardwood tree species, in various moisture content scenarios, and produced a spreadsheet to allow estimates to be calculated quickly for comparison, once the remaining three assessments are in.

On Wednesday I spent the morning documenting the work from Monday and Tuesday. I also had a consultation with a boiler replacement service for a quote to replace the current boiler in one of the buildings at the site, to include this in the analysis. This work needs to be performed but a biomass installation for the whole site would eliminate this need. In the afternoon I calculated estimates of the current greenhouse gas emissions and the potential emissions for various biomass installation scenarios. To do this I again used the estimate of annual heating demand provided by the renewable installation company, and so again produced a spreadsheet to quickly do this when I receive the other assessments.

 On Thursday I researched the seasoning process required to dry felled trees before they can be burnt as wood fuel. I continued to work on my report, documenting my work, and also investigated the potential for any scrap/resale value in the equipment currently installed on-site, which would be replaced; looking at the quantity and potential value of radiators, water heaters and hot water cylinders.

Friday was spent just working on my report: adding additional information, where necessary; editing sections; checking references and formatting the document.

The project progressed well again in my third week but there’s still a lot to do before I finish! Next week will involve scrutinising the installation assessments to summarise the results and draw conclusions so that I can compile recommendations for the Trust.

Week two draws to a close…

My second week at St. Anne’s is nearly over, and I feel like I’ve settled in nicely. As I’ve carried out more and more screening I’ve become much more confident with the process, and when explaining the results to service users. The staff have been working really hard to raise awareness of my screening amongst service users and as a result I’ve been pretty busy!

Throughout my time at St. Anne’s, my perception of the homeless and people with alcohol/substance abuse problems has changed dramatically. It’s often difficult to admit that we have prejudices towards these groups, but I’ll put my hands up and say that before I began my project I had always been a bit frightened or suspicious of them. Over the past two weeks, I’ve had the chance to talk to many people I’d never normally interact with, such as the homeless, recovering alcoholics, and people who are alcohol and drug-dependent. Hearing their stories (through the screening process) has helped me  to understand how circumstance often lands people in positions they never expected to be in, and has really shown me that there’s no need to be skeptical or scared of these people – they are, after all, just people. I’ve never had so many interesting conversations, or laughed so much!

Despite all the fun, I’ve faced some new challenges this week. Many of the people who’ve asked to be screened for cognitive impairment this week speak English as a second language, which makes the scoring of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment complicated. Some parts of the assessment are designed to test verbal fluency and abstraction, so for people for whom English is a second language this can be more difficult. Frustratingly, there is no guidance on how to adjust the scoring of the assessment  in this situation available, so I’ve had to adapt the process how I see fit to ensure I get accurate data.

I’ve also spent some time talking to the staff at St. Anne’s about ARBD (Alcohol Related Brain Damage) and interestingly they knew very little about the condition. From my (admittedly still small) data set it’s clear that ARBD is a problem amongst the service users, so the staff were concerned that they weren’t well-informed on the subject. Using this, I’ve started designing a leaflet for the staff at St. Anne’s to inform them about ARBD, its symptoms and what to do if they suspect a service user may be suffering from the condition. This lot should keep me busy until my next blog post!

 

Week 3: Finalising that server and practicing crossfilter.js and dc.js

In last week’s blog I mentioned that final hurdle for the offline server was to get to the bottom of the disappointingly slow speeds. It took a few days to research around this since no support was found for it on-line. This was not surprising given the specificity of the case and the relatively new service.  That being said, this solution is an exciting prospect for charities such as the Red Cross. In fact, my team had discussed the capability of Formhub with the Medecins sans frontieres (MSF) and the MSF immediately put out a request to developers to get this working- it would enable them to digitally collect data in remote and rural areas making the current process a lot more efficient and scalable.

Luckily, learning about web programming in the previous weeks meant I was familiar with Google Chrome’s Developer tools (press Ctrl+Shift+I on Chrome to check them out). This meant I could load up the server and inspect the cause of the delay. It turned out that since Formhub was not originally designed to be used in such a way; the javascript libraries  (eg bootstrap, jquery etc)  were called upon via the web. I therefore narrowed down the code using these libraries, SSHed into the server, downloaded the libraries in a local storage location and called upon them from within the server . Voila! The server was now running at great speeds.

For rest of the week, I continued to learn about creating interactive dashboards primarily using this tutorial. So I can now make basic line charts linked with pie-charts and so on.

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you can check out the actual dashboard and it’s code on this link.

However, I am yet to learn about making click-able maps (as mentioned last week). We are still demoing dashboard ideas to the BRC’s Communications team and although there has been great enthusiasm for them, there have been no substantial requests yet.

So at the end of this week, I am glad to have the Formhub server set-up and will be spending a significant time next week documenting the process of setting it up and creating a “noob-friendly” tutorial.  Also, I am looking forward to creating my very own unique dashboard soon!

Placement & Internship Officers on tour….

Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath

Helen and I have been really enjoying reading everyone’s blog posts about their Charity Insights experience. We thought it was about time we also added a post to the blog!

View of the Shard from Isabelle's ofice
View of the Shard from Isabelle’s office

Last week we were able to visit Isabelle, Clara and Kristiana to hear about some of the fantastic work they have been doing with their charities.

Our first visit was to Isabelle who has been working for Rethink located in Vauxhall. The office is located on the fifteenth floor of a high rise building nicknamed “Charity Towers” as it hosts many charities including Macmillan and Comic Relief (it even has a charity recruitment agency inside). There is a great view from all sides of building as you can see! Isabelle has been getting fit walking up the stairs to beat the long queue for the lifts (especially after lunch)!

Isabelle has been working on an online survey to analyse mental health patients’ view of the service provided by their GP. She was able to attend two conferences during her internship – a great professional development experience. Paula, a Senior Policy Officer at the charity was very impressed with Isabelle’s work and how quickly she had picked up the social issues that surround Rethink’s work.

Clara's glamorous office location next to the Rolls Royce garage
Clara’s glamorous office location next to the Rolls Royce garage
Clara hard at work
Clara hard at work

 

We also visited Clara working in a “virtual office” in Berkeley Square. A glamorous location next to the Bentley and Rolls Royce garages! This was our first visit to a virtual office; they have bookable meeting rooms and a business lounge to work from, similar to a hotel lobby and conference facility. Clara has been working in a very small team with one other Imperial intern and the charity CEO. She has been developing a social media campaign and organising events as well as lots of other tasks. Clara has found that working in such a small charity requires lots of multi-tasking and flexibility! The CEO Brian praised Clara’s efforts and explained how valuable her work has been.

The Hive - home of Wild about Hampstead Heath
The Hive – home of Wild about Hampstead Heath

 

From the glamorous Mayfair we travelled north to visit Kristiana at the dramatically different location of Hampstead Heath. Kristiana has been working with Wild about Hampstead Heath an RSPB project which is funded for three years. As part of the project they have converted old changing rooms into “the Hive” where the project is based. Kristiana has been working as a volunteer coordinator. The project manager Rachel described her contribution as “invaluable” as she has achieved many things that the charity wouldn’t normally have had time to get done. She has solely recruited at least 5 new volunteers with many more potential volunteers in the pipeline. She has also conducted a survey with lapsed volunteers to get their feedback. She has analysed data about where the majority of volunteers come from and which enquiries turn into actual volunteers. Kristiana has also been able to get involved in other activities such as organising and participating in a community festival involving family activities such as pond dipping, painting frogs and making birdfeeders. Reflecting on her experience Kristiana felt it was a great chance to learn about project management and marketing and will help her make a decision about whether to take the year in management as part of her degree.

Wildlife spotting
Wildlife spotting
Kristiana on the heath
Kristiana on the heath
Advertising for volunteers on Hampstead Heath
Advertising for volunteers on Hampstead Heath

Week 1 at RECLAIM

My Charity Insights is at RECLAIM, a relatively new charity based in Manchester. RECLAIM works with young people who have been recognised as talented but may need some support to realise their potential. It encourages communication between young people and adults in communities in Greater Manchester in order to build the confidence and voices of the young people involved. One of RECLAIM’s main tag lines is enabling young people to be heard, be seen and lead change in their communities.

My project is based on research, outreach and evaluation.  I will be running focus groups with some of the previous participants in order to evaluate their projects and give some feedback so changes can be made to the upcoming projects. I will conduct a case study of 2 people from the focus groups to give more of an insight into the impact RECLAIM has had on their life and to highlight where improvements could be made.

So far this week I have been planning the focus groups and contacting some of the young people we want to be involved. I contacted a library and a monastery in Manchester for interesting spaces to run these focus groups. There are also a lot of upcoming events over the summer such as BMXing and picnic’s and music and musuem’s that I am hoping to get involved in. So far a very good start!

Moss Side Boys

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust – Week 4

Finished the last week of my internship, it’s been an absolutely amazing experience, I’ve had involvement in multiple different sectors of the wildlife trust and have felt really welcomed into every different department.
This week I’ve done multiple different wildlife based things, on Monday I was invited onto a lichen course to learn more about lichen, and see how we could maybe include it into the school curriculum, it was surprisingly interesting and I think I learnt a lot.

I also did some more work with the midweek volunteers, clearing ragwort out of fields as it is poisonous to live stock.

On Thursday I worked with the wildlife trust running 2 children’s parties, den building and fire building, it was a really easy day and I really enjoyed it.

On Friday morning the Severn Trent water team took me out in the landrovers around the reservoir to clear some paths and teach me about their partnership with the wildlife trust and how they use it to improve conservation onsite, and as it was my last day they took me around the reservoir on the power boat in the afternoon, it was absolutely incredible and was such a perfect end to my internship.

I was really sad to leave, but I don’t think it will be the last time I will see my colleagues as I was invited later on over summer to go on a otter monitoring boat trip which I am really excited for.

I have thoroughly enjoyed  every part of my internship, I’ve loved spending so much time outside, especially since the weathers been so great (only one rainy day) and feel I have really improved my people skills having to deal with parents and teachers so often.

I would recommend charity insights to anyone else thinking of applying because its been such an amazing experience for me.

Week 2 at the Population Health Genomics (PHG) Foundation

The second week of my internship saw me taking my research project into more depth, gaining a better understanding of the other projects and roles within the foundation and arranging meetings for next week.

At the beginning of the week I sat down with my supervisor for a quick debrief and feedback session on the working draft of my briefing note. We primarily discussed my progress on the project and the evidence surrounding use of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), a new cancer testing approach, and the issues around its potential application in the clinic. It was very helpful to gain feedback at this stage, agree on areas for more in-depth research and identify experts we may want to approach for further information.

This week I have also started to learn more about the different projects going on within the foundation. I have found that tea-time is one of the best opportunities to learn about the most recent activities and get to know the people who sit in other offices. Further to that I have also actively approached different members of the team in order to learn more about their work and roles.

Having spent two weeks at the PHG Foundation, I can now say that one of the highlights of the internship is that I feel intellectually challenged in my work and inspired by the people around me. Seeing how quickly time flies I am strongly motivated to make substantial progress in my project and learn as much as possible in the next few weeks.

Last week!

Last week!

Lippast week of my internship, mixed feelings. I can’t believe time flies so fast, and I am already at the end of the internship. I am pride of myself that I have managed to come to Oxford on my own and accomplished all the work, and even better, I have learned a lot! This was the first time I did internship outside of study, which gave me an insight into the working of global health institute, and my internship here also allowed me to gain ideas of a branch of research which was very distinct from my PhD study, and this meaningful and interesting internship project has opened a new door for me to think about medical science, which probably w ill be combined to what I have done and am doing to build a big picture of research for me in the future. During the work, I have learnt meta-analysis, and a powerful statistical tool-R programming, which will be very useful in my other research. I like the working environment and experience here, people come from different background-clinicians, engineers, philosophers, statisticians, programmers, etc., to share ideas and work efficiently as a team. Everyone is professional, dedicated and nice, they have given me very warm welcome and goodbye, and I really enjoyed the time working with them. They have taught me a lot, not only on techniques and academia, but also on spirit of working.

The last week, I was still learning R and repeating the R coding from another researcher to better understanding R coding in meta. It was difficult for me since I have had no background of coding, and had to learn from scratch. But I am happy that I picked it up quickly, and already can draw some of the graphs in meta-analysis now.

On the last week, we lunched together and had a nice chat in the sun everyday. On the second last day of my internship, I was invited to attend a birthday celebration of Laure, one colleague in the group, and had a very nice time with the group people at Oxford local pub. On the last day of my internship, we had a very nice cake break for my leaving, my supervisor said thank you for my work, everyone gave me a goodbye and wished me back some time in the future.

Thank you Charity Insigh ts, thank you George Institute to offer me this wonderful and meaningful internship opportunity. I hugely enjoyed it.

Week 4 – Final week at TF Willetts Foundation

After 4 weeks at the Thomas Fredrick Willetts Foundation, my internship has come to an end. My final week has been packed full of liaising, research and finalising the projects we’ve been working towards.

So why did I decide to take up a charity insights internship?

I wanted to gain valuable experience in a professional, office environment as well as utilise my skills and knowledge to benefit others. If the insights scheme was not available, then I would have been waitressing tables all summer, which is still valuable work experience but I have been doing this ongoing for two years, having the chance to add something different through the insights scheme is extremely invaluable.

What have I gained from this internship?

I have learned to prioritise tasks set upon me, even at the last minute, and how to handle myself in a professional situation to express my ideas in a coherent way. Also, my researching skills have greatly increased as I have done extensive analysis of why particular social media campaigns have been successful, how to approach the arts philanthropists, and how to manage several social media platforms at once. As well as pick up a few tips from my co-intern Theo when it comes to all things technological.

How has this shaped my future career path?

Personally, being in an office all day every day was very tiring, the days when we went out and filmed the videos and meet new people were definitely the most interesting. I would therefore say that having a job in which I went out and met people or had a balance between being in the office and being out of it would be ideal; as I am sure most people would agree.

Finally, I would like to thank Imperial Insights for supporting me through this internship and providing me with such an invaluable opportunity. I would recommend the scheme to anyone who wants to make a difference with their summer and meet different people.

Thank you

P.S. Here is the last video we made with one of the musicians the charity supports, Giulio Romano, to get his perspective on the charity to help raise awareness of what they do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4nwBh9oePw&feature=youtu.be

So long, farewell…

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Summer Social
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Work and Gifts
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THE Document

Four weeks completed. Wow. What an experience it has been. My time with BHF has flown by and I have very much enjoyed it!

With one document nearly complete (11 pages), 3 documents plans (11 pages each), 4 detailed cross referencing tables (15 pages each) for use online and one slightly frazzled brain, my time is complete!

The task I faced had not be tried before and no one quite knew what the final product would look like but after 4 weeks, 16 government/ NHS documents have been distilled down to 4 document plans. Not a small challenge. The final week has consisted of talking to other departments to get their veiw on what the tone and layout should be and trying to combine these into one. With last minute dramatic changes in layout it has been a challenging week!The Summer Social on Wednesday broke up the week and was a great chance to chat to people out of a working environment.

The team I have been working with very kindly gave me gifts to say thank you for my work! Some of which I can keep forever and always remember my time with BHF.

Thank you Charity Insights for this opportunity. I couldn’t have done it without the support.

Over and Out.