BCS SPECIALIST GROUP ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (SGAI) - Ethical and Legal Aspects of AI

The next in our series of free evening virtual seminars will be on Wednesday May 6th from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. (UK time). The topic will be Ethical and Legal Aspects of AI.

 

The speakers will be

• Prof. Bernd Stahl (University of Nottingham) on 'Artificial Intelligence for a Better Future - An Ecosystem Perspective on the Ethics of AI'
• Prof. Dr. Griet Verhenneman (Ghent University, Belgium) on 'Patch Day in Brussels: How the EU AI Act ran into the unusual scenario of reform prior to application' and
• Dr Uchenna Nnawuchi (Sheffield University) on 'The “Why” being Algorithmic Decision Making: Explainability as the Backbone of AI Governance'.

The seminar will be chaired by Dr. Carlisle George (Middlesex University).

 

The virtual seminar series is free and open to all. For further details and for the zoom link to use go to https://bcs-sgai.org/seminars/2026-05-06/.

 

Details of future SGAI events will be placed on the website at https://bcs-sgai.org as they become available. To register to be sent information about future SGAI events by email go to https://www.bcs-sgai.org/register/.

 

Max Bramer

Chair, BCS SGAI

----------------------------------------------------

Chair, British Computer Society Specialist Group on Artificial Intelligence

Emeritus Professor, School of Computing, University of Portsmouth, UK
http://www.maxbramer.org

My source: BCS SGAI list

WCCS26: World Conference on Complex Systems 20-22nd April

It was good that today I could relax a little sooner than I expected with my presentation delivered over lunch time instead of 1730. This after arriving back from a conference dinner near Marrakech at 0100, but the event was different and most enjoyable. I'm conscious that unlike other speakers I (still!) did not have 'data' to share and discuss. Equations have been necessary over the first two days. But overall all sessions have proved accessible. 

From comments received Hodges' model was understood and deemed relevant. One delegate noted how the visual nature of Hodges' model was apparent, the illustrations revealed the model more clearly than a previous verbal description.

There were two questions. I eventually recalled awareness of Franco Basaglia, the Italian pioneer of community mental health and mental health law in Italy. Another questions concerned were I though the arts, drama and culture sit, or fit in Hodges' model? I suggested a search of the blog for posts tagged 'art', 'theatre', or 'culture'; with a warning that it can be a bit of a rabbit-hole.

Discussion, in-sessions and outside have proved refreshing, and not just as a welcome change from 'world news'. There were reminders too of early career researchers, professionals, and policymakers and the need to phone home.

While I pack for a transfer to Marrakech tomorrow afternoon, I will reflect and look to add more here. 

Many thanks to the WCCS26 Committee for being able to participate and share this model made in the 20th century for the challenges of the 21st.

In the meantime, with a half-day remaining you can read the programme yourself.

c/o HIFA "Help Shape Global Guidance for Rural & Remote Health"

Guidance on Evidence-Based Healthcare Strategies 
to Serve Rural & Remote Communities

Rural and remote communities are not peripheral — they are central to the fabric of our societies.

Through the Communities of Practice for Remote and Rural Health, in collaboration with Rural Wonca, The National Center for Rural Health Professions, Rural Coordination Centre of British Columbia, and Rural Doctors Network, we have developed a draft Guidance on Evidence-Based Healthcare Strategies to Serve Rural and Remote Communities.

Now, we are inviting the wider TUFH Network to help strengthen it.

This draft Guidance: 

• Brings a rural lens to global health systems 
• Focuses on access as the defining challenge in rural health 
• Addresses funding, workforce, infrastructure, culture, and equity 
• Recognizes socioeconomic overlays and preventable disease burdens 
• Highlights vulnerable groups, including Indigenous communities, women, the elderly, and people with Disabilities
• Draws on global case studies from Canada, Australia, South Africa, Thailand, Ethiopia, and beyond
• Proposes actionable, adaptable strategies grounded in evidence and expert consensus

Importantly, the paper intentionally shifts away from a deficit narrative toward one that recognizes rural strengths, resilience, and community-driven solutions.

We Need Your Input

We are seeking feedback that helps us ensure this Guidance is: 

• Globally relevant across diverse rural contexts 
• Practical and implementable 
• Inclusive of LMIC realities 
• Clear in its recommendations 
• Strengthened by lived experience and frontline practice

Through the consultation survey, we are specifically inviting your reflections on: 

• Clarity of definitions (e.g., rurality, generalist workforce, access)
• Gaps in evidence or missing priority issues 
• Feasibility of implementation strategies 
• Cultural responsiveness and community engagement 
• Additional case studies or models to include 
• Areas needing further research or clarification

Your expertise — whether as a policymaker, academic, practitioner, community leader, or advocate — is essential.

We request your input in any of the following forms by April 30th.

Specific Feedback Forms (Deadline for Feedback is April 30th)

Access Draft Paper 📑<https://thenetworktufh.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=742357d7350b0bf9f9591c8ab&id=2d170bf5cf&e=95c553a647>

1. If you have any suggestions on specific content, additional references to cite existing or new information, or other updates, please fill out this form:

Guidance Document - Content Body – Fill out form 📝<https://thenetworktufh.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=742357d7350b0bf9f9591c8ab&id=ff3084197e&e=95c553a647>

2. If you have any specific information that can be used to include solutions and successes that could better reflect rural realities for each of the document sections, please fill out this form:

Guidance on evidence-based healthcare strategies to serve rural and remote communities. – Fill out form 📝<https://thenetworktufh.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=742357d7350b0bf9f9591c8ab&id=392220cca9&e=95c553a647>

3. If you have specific lessons from regions that can be included in the Guidance Document, please fill out this form:

Guidance Document - Lessons Learned from Different Regions – Fill out form 📝
<https://thenetworktufh.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=742357d7350b0bf9f9591c8ab&id=de2ab21951&e=95c553a647>

4. If you have specific evidence that can be used to describe the relative contribution of patient factors and access factors in rural disease, please fill out this form:

Evidence-based relative contribution of patient and access factors for rural disease – Fill out form 📝<https://thenetworktufh.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=742357d7350b0bf9f9591c8ab&id=3d8527953c&e=95c553a647> 

Communities of Practice

Why This Matters

Health disparities in rural and remote communities are rarely about incidence alone. They are about access, equity, and systems design.

This Guidance aims to support: 

• Policymakers designing rural-responsive systems 
• Health workforce planners 
• Universities and training institutions 
• Community health leaders 
• Global partners advancing Universal Health Coverage

Join us at TUFH 2026 in Manila, Philippines
https://tufh2026.com/

We look forward to welcoming you for TUFH 2026! 

If you need assistance with registration or have any other questions, please contact -
secretariat AT thenetworktufh.org

Join The Network: Towards Unity For Health (TUFH): https://thenetworktufh.org/

You are receiving this e-mail from the Office of the Secretariat from The Network: Towards Unity For Health

Our mailing address is: The Network: Toward Unity for Health (TUFH) 970 Sproul Road Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

My source:  David Cawthorpe via HIFA -
HIFA profile: David Cawthorpe is Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary, Canada. His professional interests include: Human Development, Developmental Psychopathology, and Delivery of low bandwidth medical education curriculum. cawthord AT ucalgary.ca

'Our broken sticks' c/o Roger Lewin "Complexity: life at the edge of chaos"

Chapter 4 Explosions and Extinctions

  'Is Stu being led astray? I asked. "There's something called the broken stick model in statistics," said Dave. In this trick, a random number generator "breaks'' a stick a hundred inches long at twenty-five points, and produces twenty-six short sticks. Measure them, count the number that are one inch long, the number two inches long, and so on, and draw a histogram. You get a skewed distribution, toward the short end, just like many natural phenomena, including the distribution of sizes of U.S. cities, for instance. "One thing you have to remember about extinctions is that some species are more likely than others to die out, just because they exist as small, isolated populations,'' explained Dave. "This sort of statistical quirk can skew your results, easily." So, you would be suspicious of anything that looks like a power law? "I would, because it's common, just in the nature of statistics. It may tell you that a system is poised at a critical point, whatever that means, but it may not. In any case, when Stu says that the curve he gets from my data is close to a power law, he knows that there are many other mathematical models that could fit equally well."
  Clearly, there were many reasons to be cautious about drawing the conclusion that global ecosystems are poised at the edge of chaos, using just the extinction data.' p.80.

 

Hodges' model: Axes (structure) and Domains (content)

If we take the axes of Hodges' model, and break them at twenty-five points, I wonder what we end-up (or start) with?

 

Lewin, Roger. (1993) Complexity: life at the edge of chaos. London : Phoenix [Dent, 1993] ISBN: 1857990285.

Previously: 'complexity' : 'system'

Ann Hutchinson Guest (Obit.), 'Authority on dance notation ... '

'Although there are many forms of dance notation going back to Pierre Beauchamp's system for Baroque dance in the 1680s, Nijinsky had developed his own cryptic version. Ann Hutchinson Guest first tried to reconstruct his work in 1956 after the choreogapher's widow, Romola, gave her his notes. "I spent years trying to work it out," she said, adding with a laugh: And I'm supposed to be the leading authority on dance notation in the world. She told how Nijinsky had revised his notes many times, often contradicting himself. 'We couldn't get anywhere. Romolo was furious. She said it was taking much too long."

    Hutchinson Guest studied dozens of different dance notation systems, translating many of them into Labanotation, a system developed in the 1920s by Rudolf von Laban who was a central figure in European modern dance. According to a  press report in 1954: "The printed Labanotation page looks like a combination of hieroglyphs, pictographs, Morse dots-and-dashes, đoodles, and a musie score turned on edge" 

    It was not until 1980 that she and Claudia Jeschke, a dance historian, succeeded in cracking Nijinsky's code after finding a copy of his annotated score in the British Library.'

Register, The Times.

My source: Ann Hutchinson Guest (Obit.), 'Authority on dance notation known for reconstructing Vaslav Nijinsky's scandalous ballet, L'Après-midi d'un faune'. Register, The Times. 20 April, 2022, p.48.
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/ann-hutchinson-guest-obituary-hkw8z88ns

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GROUP

abstraction representation interpretation observation - translation code - formalism	body (bodies) symbols - forms dance choreography movement - 4D - time
group ensemble 'anthropological composition?' 'diagnostic grouping'? social - cultural category . . .	'collective power & attention  evinced as time' 'The stage: the space for health'^

Hutchinson Guest in 1956
 Source: The Times.

'Dance has been called moving architecture, a truth which the complexities of contemporary choreography may mask. Not only does the dancer's body form shapes and groups of dancers form moving or static designs, but also group arrangements carve up the stage space, establishing areas of open as well as enclosed space which are significant in their changes and contrasting effects.

While the rccording of movement on paper-dance notation-does not look like movement (disregarding primitive stick figure drawings), there is an "architecture" in the sequence of graphic symbols used to record dance patterns. Over the centuries many different devices have been used to capture dance steps on paper. What are the elements that have to be represented?

The process of dance notation requires reducing four-dimensional movement (time being the fourth dimension) to a two-dimensional surface. The parts of the body in action have to be defined, as does the form of movement involved (flexion, extension, rotation, directional placement) and the duration of each in relation to the overall time structure. In group dances the relationship of dancers to one another must be determined and recorded, as well as their location on stage and their paths of travel. In a dance score each performer is like a small orchestra-arms, legs, head, torso, etc. in motion-this is then multiplied by the number of dancers who are performing individual sequences.'

Guest, A. H. (1990). Dance Notation. Perspecta, 26, 203–214. https://doi.org/10.2307/1567163

^Health is always performed in the political domain, make no mistake (excuses, or exceptions). It is not:

1. Acknowledged, masked - covered by the 'set design' (see #2 below);
2. Implied in the medical, biomedical, bio-psycho-social model;
3. The intermission is neither the time, or place, to reflect upon and critique the political in health :: health in politics.

See also: https://archives.nypl.org/dan/19629

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Hutchinson_Guest

Previously: 'dance' : 'architecture' : 'movement'  : 'notation'

Book: 'Logic on the Track of Social Change'

When I walked into Lancaster Univ. library in February, I had no idea I was being followed.

From the maths shelves, the lights switching on as you progress, I decided to walk across to the more familiar realm of sociology. Looking for something, it was nice to see the parity in lighting, even as my struggle for mathematical enlightenment continues.

Logic on the Track of Social Change    

I do use the e-library, and other e-resources, but sometimes real shelves and varying levels of mustiness (remember the 'new acquisitions' - fewer these days?) invite a bit of serendipity. Suddenly, over my shoulders, the stranger,  pointed (with four arms of course). Was it my shadow? Or, was it my unconscious that 'read': LOGIC and TRACK and SOCIAL CHANGE, on the spine of -

David Braybrooke, Bryson Brown & Peter K. Schotch (eds.), Logic on the Track of Social Change, Oxford University Press. 1995?

In the early decades of health informatics, there was much talk - and still is(?) - of  'languages for health', even languages for nursing. Coding and classification systems were constantly developing, as posted here, but while physical diagnoses were the driver, the psychosocial dimensions of person - patienthood proved more nebulous. DSM is still subject much debate.

 Chapter 8 in Braybrook et al. is brilliant: A Rules-Analysis, Following Foucault, of the Birth of Clinical Medicine.

I've been in situations when surgery is suggested for an older person, and family, friends wonder is this really necessary? This chapter literally brings the history home, and not only that, but the emergence of the hospital system, versus care at home, in the community. The social determinants of health have been ever-present. This is essential reading for students, with the history of ICD, and the history of medicine. There are insights too into public attitudes and expectations to health services and provision here in the UK and in France.

For me, and Hodges' model, the significance of Braybrook, Brown, Schotch and Byrne is that it precedes:

Sallach, D.L. Categorical Social Science: Theory, Methodology and Design. September 2012
Conference: Fourth World Congress on Social Simulation. Taipei, Taiwan.
https://www2.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi/Sallach2012CategoricalSoSci4.WCSS-SS.pdf

And so, I do need my own secondhand copy of  Logic on the Track of Social Change. More to follow (indeed)! ... and help still welcome and needed.

 

Previously: Re. Sallach - 'Distance: Shoulders and ships that pass...' : 'history of medicine'

The 8th International Conference on Law Enforcement & Public Health

Vulnerability, policing and public health

6 - 9 September 2026
University of Leeds, UK

About the Conference

The Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association (GLEPHA) and the ESRC Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre will jointly host the 8th International Law Enforcement and Public Health Conference, LEPH2026 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK from 6-9 September 2026.

Following highly successful conferences in North America, Africa and Europe, the 2026 global event in Leeds presents a unique opportunity to spotlight global research and world-leading practice across law enforcement and public health. The 2026 overarching theme will be vulnerability, policing and public health.

The conference will be open to law enforcement and public health agencies, national and local governments, relevant research bodies, academic institutes, policy makers as well as the commercial sector and other partner organisations. Bringing these diverse communities and perspectives together, the conference presents an ideal space for sharing and learning about new approaches, instigating and developing real change in practice, based on the best available evidence internationally.

Full details - conference website ...

My source: Culling followers on Twitter '0 posts', last post years ago ...X may have been accepted legally as a signature, but it might denote injury, illness, or illiteracy. Twitter diehards really are in a 'graveyard'. And yet, amidst the tombstones, I found a POLITICAL care domain gem in @LEPH2026, which led me to @GLEPHAssoc. I will follow when allowed.

Previously: 'law' : 'vulnerability' : 'public health'

AI-2026 46th SGAI International Conference on Artificial Intelligence CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND, DECEMBER

THIRD CALL FOR PAPERS AND POSTERS

The proceedings of the AI-20xx conference series are now published by Springer in Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI), a sub-series of the distinguished Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series of conference proceedings.

AI-2026: Cambridge, UK, December 15th-17th 2026

Organised by BCS SGAI: The British Computer Society Specialist Group on Artificial Intelligence (a EurAi Member Society).

The leading series of UK-based international conferences on Artificial Intelligence and one of the longest running AI conference series in Europe.

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

http://www.bcs-sgai.org/ai2026/

AI-2026 is the forty-sixth SGAI International Conference on Innovative Techniques and Applications of Artificial Intelligence.

The scope of the conference comprises the whole range of AI technologies and application areas. AI-2026 reviews recent technical advances in AI technologies and shows how these advances have been applied to solve business problems. Key features are:

• Papers will be published by Springer in the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI) subseries of the popular Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series (www.springer.com/lncs).
• Papers are invited in two streams. The Technical Stream presents the best of recent developments in AI, covering a wide range of technical areas. The Application Stream is the largest annual showcase in Europe of real applications using AI technology.
• It is expected that the best papers will be reprinted in expanded form in a special issue of an international journal.
• A mixture of full papers (maximum 14 A4 pages) presented orally and short papers (maximum 6 A4 pages) presented as posters. Papers of both kinds will be included in the proceedings.
• Prizes for best paper and best student paper in each stream and best presented short/poster paper.
• Invited keynote lectures.
• The first day comprises tutorials and workshops to provide greater depth in selected topics. (Separate one-day registration for this day is also available.)
• A panel session on a topical subject.
• An 'AI Open Mic' session to allow delegates to have their say about any aspect of AI.
• In addition to the formal sessions, the conference programme includes a welcome reception and a Gala Dinner.

AI-2026 offers a valuable opportunity to keep up to date with developments in AI and to share experiences in the practical issues of developing AI systems.

FAIRS '26, the eighteenth annual forum for AI research students will immediately precede the AI-2026 conference at Peterhouse College on Monday December 14th, 2026. The aim of FAIRS is to support student members of the AI community providing advice and feedback on their research plans and work. This event is free of charge for research students except for a contribution towards the cost of refreshments and lunch in the College and no conference registration is required.

IMPORTANT DATES

• Paper/Poster Submission: Friday 26th June 2026

This deadline is considerably later than for previous conferences in this series and will not be extended.

• Notification of Acceptance: Tuesday September 1st 2026
• Camera Ready Paper: Monday 14th September 2026

CONTRIBUTIONS

Contributions presenting original work in AI are invited for both the technical and the application stream. Contributions may be submitted either as full papers of up to fourteen A4 pages for oral presentation or as short papers of up to six A4 pages for poster presentation.

• Technical Stream

Areas of interest include (but are not restricted to): knowledge engineering; semantic web; constraint satisfaction; intelligent agents; machine learning; model based reasoning; verification and validation of AI systems; natural language understanding; speech-enabled systems; case based reasoning; neural networks; genetic algorithms; data mining and knowledge discovery in databases; knowledge representation, inference and reasoning; robotics and pervasive computing; qualitative and temporal reasoning; knowledge management; AI languages and environments; robotics and pervasive computing; large language models.

• Application Stream

Case studies are welcomed describing the application of AI to real-world problems. Papers in recent years have covered all application domains, including commerce, manufacturing and government, and every major AI technique. In addition to case studies and specific applications of AI, we would welcome papers that discuss issues such as managing the transfer from research to production of AI-based products. Papers are selected to highlight critical areas of success (and failure) and to present the benefits and lessons of value to other developers. Submitted papers should make these points clear.

• Short Papers for Poster Presentation

Short papers are intended for the presentation of work which meets the high standards of the conference, but which is more topical and preliminary than the work presented in full papers. They provide an excellent forum for disseminating new developments and latest work in progress, especially suited to PhD students. Work submitted in the form of full-length papers that fall short of the standard for oral presentation will automatically be considered as candidates for reworking as short papers for poster presentation.

• Submission of Papers

Final versions of accepted papers must be prepared in either Microsoft Word or Latex together with a copy in PDF format. Initial versions of papers should be submitted in PDF format only and uploaded to the conference website by the deadline given above. Instructions for authors and templates for both Word and Latex are given at

http://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines

In order for an accepted paper to be published at least one author must register for the conference and undertake to attend and present the paper in person. Presenting authors will be asked to register for the conference at the discounted speakers' rate when they return the final camera-ready versions of their papers.

• Tutorials & workshops

The Conference Committee invites proposals for tutorials and workshops to be presented on the first day of the conference. These should be directed in the first instance to the Tutorial/Workshop Organiser.

• Prizes

There are prizes for the best paper and best student paper submitted in each stream, chosen by the relevant program committee, and also a prize for the best presented short/poster paper, awarded on the basis of delegate voting.

All further information including details of the conference committee, program committees, paper format and uploading instructions is given on the conference website.

ALL CORRESPONDENCE SHOULD BE SENT BY EMAIL TO THE CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT:
sgai-conference AT bcs.org.uk

My source: BCS-SGAI

Seminar: 'MedGemma and HAI-DEF: A family of open models'

 

Dear Madam/Sir, 

We are glad to announce the following seminar: 

MedGemma and HAI-DEF: A family of open models by Andrew Sellergren, Software Engineer & Researcher at Google.

Save the date: 

Thursday, April 16, 2026 - 4:30 PM (CEST) 
Aula Pitagora - MT11 (Cubo 30B), Unical 
Hybrid Format / Live Streaming 

Link: https://dub.sh/medgemma2026

See also: https://goo.gle/medgemma

MedGemma Technical Report

My source: francesco.calimeri AT unical.it

'Sociological Theory in Transition' (always ..?)

Conclusion: Sociology as a Skin Trade

In other writings (O'Neill, 1972, 1985) I have set out a rival conception of the embodied subject who suffers the hopes and defeats of what I have called 'sociology as a skin trade'. At the same time I began to renovate the imagery of society as a body-politic, to differentiate the levels of the bio-body, the productive body and the libidinal body as sites where human beings pursue the relevant knowledge and values of health, work and happiness. Each level of discourse requires he formulation of relevant technical knowledge (medicine, political economy, sociology and psychoanalysis) and each level has its own emancipatory discourse about health creativity and self-expression. Because each of these discursive interests is likely to be articulated by professional social scientists and therapists, it is necessary to require the institutionalization of mechanisms of political and ethical accountability to laypersons' common-sense knowledge and values regarding their bodies, their families, their work and their souls. Medical and sociological nemesis is not the result of a therapeutic conspiracy against society. It belongs to the radical technological a priori of Western knowledge whose ambition is fundamentally bio-technological. The sin of Adam and Eve was the best humankind could manage at the time. In today's laboratory Adam and Eve can be bypassed and life can be set in motion according to the best genetic formulas. Huge legal, ethical and sociological problems are simultaneously generated. And thus we step into a new 'crisis of opportunity` for which very few social scientists are prepared - whether by training or morals.' p.35.

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psychoanalysis	body as a machine bio-technological body- bio-
sociology	-politic bio-politics of the population

'In concrete terms, starting in the seventeenth century, this power over life evolved in two basic forms ... One of these poles - the first to be formed, it seems - centered on the body as a machine: its disciplining, the optimisation of its capabilities, the extortion of its forces, the parallel increase of its usefulness and docility, its integration into systems of efficient and economic controls, all this was ensured by the procedures of power that characterised the disciplines: an anatomo-politics of the human body.
The second, formed somewhat later, focussed on the species body, the body imbued with the mechanics of life and serving as the basis of the biological processes: propagation, births and mortality, the level of health, life expectancy and longevity, with all the conditions that can cause them to vary. Their supervision was effected through an entire series of interventions and regulatory controls: a bio-politics of the  population. (Foucault, 1980a, p. 139; altered for my emphasis)' p.24.

'Bio-power regulates bodies individually, as in the clinical model. and collectively, as on the model of social medicine. The two strategies are combined to produce the most complete system of discipline ever known in the history of power. Disciplinary power works in hospitals. schools, prisons, armies, factories and bureaucracies. It is compatible with shifting vocabularies of rights, reform and welfare. It is intimate and collective; it is obeyed not because of its power over death but because of its power over life. It is this shift in emphasis that is the source of the expansion of bio-power whose corresponding apparatus we may call the therapeutic state.' p.25.

 

O’Neill, J. Sociological Nemesis: Parsons and Foucault on the Therapeutic Disciplines, Chapter 1 (pp.21-35). In. Wardell, M.L. and Turner, S. (Eds.). (1986) Sociological Theory in Transition. London: Allen & Unwin, Inc. https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/phi_facpub/86

Previously: 'sociology' : 'power' : 'body'

'Healing grid' - the penultimate?

Healing grid by Ryota Kanai

Hodges' model is surely a clear winner 'healing grid'? Acting not only in healing, but in recovery, rehabilitation, reablement, palliative, illness and well-being too.

Quite a grid all-in-all (which also fascinate grandchildren).

My source: 

Great to see this on X. This is something I created during my PhD time 20 years ago. https://t.co/7mpU0D1tW5

— Ryota Kanai (@kanair) April 10, 2026

Previously: 'grids' : 'perception' : 'vision' : 'lines' : 'geometry'

#ArtemisSafeReturn #PrecisionGridManoeuvres

Book: 'Complexity in Health Care - A Paradigm Shift for Clinical Practice'

This book was published in 2023, so I am most grateful to Daniela and colleagues at SpringerNature for the review copy. My reading will also inform both the presentation I've to deliver, and the learning during the conference's three days and the rest of a visit to Morocco.

With a 15 minute talk and 5 minutes for questions, I have 15 slides. The final one, is a listing of sources, plus this book:

1. Estrada, E., Submitted (2026) Emergent Geometry in Complex Systems from Relational Dynamics. I. The Classical Setting.
https://ifisc.uib-csic.es/en/publications/emergent-geometry-in-complex-systems-from-relation/
2. Napoli, P.H., Fischer, B., Salati Marcondes de Moraes, G.H. et al. (2026). When complexity does not mean chaos: nonlinear dynamics of entrepreneurial ecosystems. J Technol Transf  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-025-10314-7
3. Hylin MJ, Kerr AL, Holden R. Understanding the Mechanisms of Recovery and/or Compensation following Injury. Neural Plast. 2017;2017:7125057. doi: 10.1155/2017/7125057. Epub 2017 Apr 20. PMID: 28512585; PMCID: PMC5415868.
4. Zanin, M., Papo, D. (2020) Assessing functional propagation patterns in COVID-19. Chaos, Solitons & Fractals 138, 109993
5. Braithwaite J, Ellis LA, Churruca K, et al. Complexity Science as a Frame for Understanding the Management and Delivery of High Quality and Safer Care. 2020
6. Bergström, J., & Dekker, S. W. A. (2014). Bridging the Macro and the Micro by Considering the Meso: Reflections on the Fractal Nature of Resilience. Ecology and Society, 19(4), art22. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-06956-190422
7. Rickles, D., Hawe, P., & Shiell, A. (2007). A simple guide to chaos and complexity. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 61(11), Article 11. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2006.054254
8. Miller, K. (2007). From Fears of Entropy to Comfort in Chaos: Arcadia, The Waste Land, Numb3rs, and Man’s Relationship With Science. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 27(1), 81-94.
9. Frankel, Steven & Thurber, Steven & Bourgeois, James. (2023). Complexity in Health Care: A Paradigm Shift for Clinical Practice. Cham: Springer. 10.1007/978-3-031-14949-8.

Also pointing to the bibliography in the sidebar and the template link. 

More to follow ...

Raising the alarm on authoritarian rule c/o Life&Arts FT

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     INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

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GROUP

I can think for myself!  Yes.   But, are you allowed to think?	EVERYBODY         TO KENMURE STREET^
My Undesirable Friends: Part 1	Mr Nobody against Putin

^It's a bit more 'local' - I think!

 

My source: Nicolas Rapold, Raising the alarm on authoritarian rule. Life&Arts, FTWeekend, 28-29 March 2026, p.12.

Previously: 'power' : 'politics' : 'authoritarian'

This blog "Welcome to the QUAD" is 20 years old

Yesterday, this blog celebrated its 20th birthday. That first post seems an age away now -

Welcome to the Hodges Health Career - Care Domains Blog

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2006/04/

Back then, I was full-time and on a secondment with the NHS's National Programme for Information Technology:

Independent report: Making IT work: harnessing the power of health information technology to improve care in England. Published 7 September 2016

House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts - The National Programme for IT in the NHS: an update on the delivery of detailed care records systems - Forty-fifth Report of Session 2010–12

In that first post, several links take you to the former website which is now archived, as per the note in the sidebar. Similar links have been updated to the web.archive.org site, but some may have been missed. Other links may be plain broke.

The blog began as an acknowledgement of the former site's limitations, hence all the posts on Drupal the content management system.* The intention was to create a stop-gap. So much for that! I still have the 'new' site in my head.

Personally, there's been much change: as ever in life, a mix of sadness and great joy. Regards the former, a manager from 1985 into the 90s, colleague and friend David McKendrick died in 2009. And coinciding with personal bereavements, Brian Hodges in 2022. I do miss chats with both of them.

With periodic backups of the blog's content (and old website 1998-2015), there been one effort at a spring clean. Posts that are poor (what was I thinking?), or items that are clearly time-limited - event announcements have been deleted. Many more no doubt remain with images - banners - that will be removed at some point. With 3381 (inc.) posts published, it is quite an onerous, yet rewarding task.

During the two decades I would like to thank researchers who have discovered Hodges' model, recognised (either) its value, utility, relevance and cited the model in their studies/projects.

Thanks too to several co-authors whose patience and understanding in working with me, their recognition of the model and value in their work, and assistance to assure open access is invaluable to bring Hodges' model and this project to the attention of a global audience and community.

If I can help you with Hodges' model - acknowledgement not a requirement(!): please let me know.

The online presence has been about the model, not business, or commerce, so there's a lack of analytics. There's a project for someone, as I notice 'Blog Analysis' as an online research method. 

People occasionally email and provide encouragement regards the content.  In a way the blog is my thesis*. 

Amid the time-dependent content, there may be much here that can demonstrate:

• the holistic bandwidth of Hodges' model
• the scope of application of Hodges' model
• the transdisciplinary potential of Hodges' model 
• how to apply the model, or at least this practitioner's use
• the visual appreciative dimension through the model's presentation to reveal the relational nature of the situation / context at hand
• many remaining questions are also to be found.

Thank you for your visiting! Here's to another 20 years ;-) !?

*I still live in hope: it's called dreaming.

Theatres of War and Healing

INDIVIDUAL

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     INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

Theater of War Productions presents community-specific, theater-based projects that address pressing public health and social issues.	Wounded Ukrainian veterans find healing on stage c/o Reuters

Previously: 'theatre' : 'war' : 'public (mental) health' 

What! Nursing reduced to objects! Do you realise what you're saying?

Wittgenstein to the rescue?

Revisting a theme, and while it is not new - as in use of objected oriented approaches in health informatics; as a nurse, to suggest there's a need to view the elements of care systems as a series of objects surely runs counter to nursing's theory, practice, professional standing and values.

Or, does Wittgenstein come to the rescue in his 'Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'?

'2.01231 In order to know an object, I must know not its external but all its internal qualities'.

[My emphasis - and as ever high degree of selectivity.] 

In reading 'internal qualities' I can equate internal with a person; and qualities with subjectivism, what is inherently seen as humanistic, a set of characteristics, and properties. Can it be argued that in the context of healthcare and person-centredness we can also take 'internal' as potentially referring to what happens in the mind, an individual's mental life, for example? This can be applied physically too. To bodily properties, which ultimately are internal genetically, and influenced by - expressed in-part - by the external environment.

While I sort books, creating space, there is the small matter that Wittgenstein walked away from philosophy after the Tractatus was published. Then, realising he had not answered the questions concerning human language and reality, he returned to Cambridge and his studies, with Philosophical Investigations published after his death.

Does this invalidate the thoughts above?

Another post to follow drawing from the Tractatus. 

Previous posts:

Reflection: programming and caring II

Abstract [working] Hodges’ model as a mathematical object, a lens for social care and inclusion: category theory or category mistake?

Person to object: Surely you're joking* ...!

Complexity science as a frame; or, a frame for complexity science?

In reading for WCCS later this month, I wonder if Braithwaite et al. (open access) may have found Hodges' model useful in addressing both the learning objectives and questions they raise in their chapter; and as a response to the recommendations?

Braithwaite J, Ellis LA, Churruca K, et al. Complexity Science as a Frame for Understanding the Management and Delivery of High Quality and Safer Care. 2020 Dec 15. In: Donaldson L, Ricciardi W, Sheridan S, et al., editors. Textbook of Patient Safety and Clinical Risk Management [Internet]. Cham (CH): Springer; 2021. Chapter 27. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK585611/ doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-59403-9_27

' Learning Objectives and Questions Covered in the Chapter

• How does a linear view of improvement contrast with a complexity science approach? 
• The complexity frame makes it harder to manage and deliver high quality and safer care — does it therefore need to be rejected in favour of simpler improvement models?
• What examples can be brought to bear to show how studies in the complexity frame can lead to good outcomes and positive change?'

'In addition, in homing in on any part of a CAS, we can discern elements of both selfsimilarity and local nuances. Self-similarity can manifest fractally, at different scales (e.g., features of the culture of the organisation at the team level approximate to that of the culture of the department, and then division, and then the whole organisation) or laterally (e.g., one department looks comparable structurally to another). It might seem paradoxical, but healthcare levels or departments, despite being self-similar in some respects, also each operate as unique entities. There are always localised contextual, cultural and structural distinctions. Such local nuances occur as the result of the particular configurations of agents (e.g., nurses, doctors, quality managers, patients) following their internalised rules and shared mental models (e.g., put the patients first, project a good reputation to the outside world, prioritise safety) in that unique setting.' pp.378-379.

'Bringing clinicians from different departments together with the patient as the focus, provided a deeper understanding of other’s roles and barriers, helped create a shared mental model, and fostered a whole-of-system approach to the care for patients with this condition.' p.382.

[CAS - Complex Adaptive System]
 

'Recommendations

1. Sensitise those with responsibility for leading, managing, improving or researching care settings to a systems view. 
2. Train sufficient staff in the tools of complexity: FRAM, network analyses, system dynamics modelling, process mapping, and the like. 
3. Approach quality and safety and risk management activities with a knowledge of complexity science, sense-making, and non-linearity rather than as a set of linear problems amenable to simplistic causal change logic. 
4. Consider how our studies, borrowing from complexity theory, have resisted simplifying the challenges, but have nevertheless made progress in understanding care systems and their improvement.' p.389.

 [FRAM - Functional Resonance Analysis Method]

 I will include this in my presentation, duly cited:

 'Complexity science as a frame: or, frame for complexity science?'