Creativity Greenhouse: Balance Network, Exploring Work-Life Balance in the Digital Economy

Lead Research Organisation: Anglia Ruskin University
Department Name: Fac of Science and Technology

Abstract

The Balance Network will provide a new, interdisciplinary research community to explore Work-Life Balance in the Digital Economy (WLB in DE). It will cultivate new linkages and promote exchanges within and beyond the research base of projects funded under the theme of Sustainable Society: Achieving work-life balance in a digitally dependent world. Through a range of virtual and face-to-face interactions the network will support new, collaborative, multidisciplinary research proposals that develop into virtual centres of excellence. As well as supporting funded projects the network aims to create opportunities for interaction between diverse communities over the next 3 years. It aims to provide resources and activities to bring about a critical mass of expertise thus ensuring a strong foundation for the continuation of the network beyond 2016. The Balance Network will operate as an interdisciplinary community of practice to not only support to core network membership but also engage the wider network membership. The open nature of the network will provide opportunities to share research and engage with a wide variety of individuals and organisations including government, opinion-formers and policy makers, the general public, public and private sector organisations. The network will:
- Support communication and collaboration across the funded research projects
- Foster a research community of multi-disciplinary teams to further explore the ideas generated on WLB in DE
- Discuss future funding opportunities, form collaborative bids and provide a forum for peer review between members.
- Facilitate discussion and the exchange of knowledge between network participants and wider audiences including the public, business and industrial as well as academics.
- Compile and disseminate activities and findings of WLB in DE projects and related activities to the wider academic and other communities, including. promotion of work under the Digital Economy Theme across the Research Councils
- Provide a coherent 'home' for the projects and to act as a single point of communication for theme of WLB in DE, from a UK and International perspective.
Aim to achieve a critical mass by widening the network to other national and international groups in order to provide self-sufficiency beyond EPSRC support

Planned Impact

The Proposed Balance Network: Exploring Work-Life Balance in the Digital Economy aims to build on the Creativity Greenhouse activities which brought together over 16 researchers, mentors and facilitators for an intensive discussion over 2 days face-to-face and 4 days online. It will build on the creative and intellectual collaborations generated during the intensive Creativity workshop and support the funded projects. However the proposed network will continue to build on the collaborations built during the Creativity Greenhouse, o generate new ideas for future projects and to support all members of the network not just the funded projects. The three levels of network membership will ensure that the research findings from the core network are disseminated and shared with a wider research group interested in WLB in DE. The Balance Network will also collate resources from other sources including the wider network and recorded events and webinars as well as providing a social network to share experiences and facilitate debate and discussion in an open network.
The ultimate beneficiaries of the collaborative research will be the societal. The research projects working together with the Balance Network, offer a significant academic platform from which has the potential to transform lifestyles and improve quality of life, having an impact on society as a whole. In the short term, the beneficiaries will be academic researchers who are influenced by the activities of the Network and its projects. The case studies within the projects will also offer engagement with specific social and industrial communities in the early stages. As the projects develop and the network activities engage a range of audiences it is anticipated that government and industry will benefit. Therefore it is intended that the network will operate as an interdisciplinary Community of Practice for researchers and the wider community interested in issues of WLB in the DE. Thus the Balance Network will not only support the research activities of the funded projects but also support the network as a community of practice. As a result the network has the potential to provide benefits to organisations and institutions regarding WLB in DE and not just to academic researchers.
 
Title An invitation to travel 
Description Sally Stenton met Marty Fiati at the Balance Network's '3 cafes' collaboration, and identified that he would have a valuable contribution to make to other projects of hers including 'An invitation to travel'. He was included in the successful application that was submitted to Arts Council England in January 2107 (PI Caroline Wendling). A grant of £14,999 was awarded and the project ran from March 2017 to November 2017. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2017 
Impact An invitation to travel invited people to go on a series of journeys in St. Ives, Cambridgeshire with a final event creating an intersection of the travels. Ideas of memory, movement and place were explored through a series of community workshops and public events. Events took place in July, August, September and October 2017. 
URL https://invitationtotravel.tumblr.com/
 
Title Digital Brain Switch video: Three Implications of Our Digi Lives 
Description Balance Network funded the production of videos based on The Digital Brain Switch (DBS) project's research. DBS was funded out of the same EPSRC greenhouse as Balance Network, and Balance Network was pleased to help disseminate DBS's work in this way. The theme of this video is: In the age of smartphones, working flexibly often means being 'on' all the time, which raises new kinds of issues for the individual and for organizations. In this video, DBS draws attention to three particular aspects of our new 'digi lives' which we believe need highlighting and debating. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2016 
Impact The videos were released in early March 2016, and so no results can be reported at this time. 
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w-huJ4Z544
 
Title Digital Brain Switch video: Work-Life Boundaries in the Digital Age 
Description Balance Network funded the production of videos based on The Digital Brain Switch (DBS) project's research. DBS was funded out of the same EPSRC greenhouse as Balance Network, and Balance Network was pleased to help disseminate DBS's work in this way. The theme of this video is: Nowadays, when work simply does not go to sleep, are we able to effectively manage our work-life boundaries as we would wish? Is it possible to achieve the work-life balance we personally want? New research indicates that in order to achieve work-life balance workers may need to go offline on a regular basis, and employers should respect the right of employees to switch off. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2016 
Impact The video was released Mar 3, 2016, and so no results are available at this time. 
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ima1HsT8QYA
 
Description The Balance Network was created through an EPSRC 'Creativity Greenhouse' event in 2012, on the theme of Work Life Balance in the Digital Economy. The network's overall purpose has been to facilitate the continued interdisciplinary approach to this area of research. Specific objectives of the network have included supporting communication and collaboration across RCUK funded research projects under the same theme (in particular the three 'sister' projects: Digital Brain Switch, Digital Epiphanies, and Family Rituals 2.0); fostering a research community of multi-disciplinary teams to form collaborative bids, facilitate discussion and exchange knowledge; and interacting with wider audiences to explore and share experience in relation to Work Life Balance.

One of the most significant contributions of the network has been the diversity of activities it has fostered and supported, co-led by academics across 25 UK universities (from business, computer science, communication, design, education, engineering, geography, human computer interaction, psychology, sociology, STS, tourism, and the visual arts) and the large interdisciplinary network it has thus built. The 20+ Balance Network activities run since Jan 2014 have included seminars, workshops, conferences, working parties, webinars, artist-led 'cafés', online videos, and participatory diary studies, many of which have involved those from business and policy, as well as members of the public. We have supported early career researchers in co-leading seven of these activities. Links between the sister projects have also been strengthened through the network, with investigators and researchers from all three projects having led on network activities. A particular highlight was the 'Beyond Balance' conference in June 2016, at which eight Balance Network activities came together to present sessions.

Major outcomes of the network to date include strong links to a number of other key networks and initiatives, again combining a wide range of disciplines (from the Switched On Culture Research Group and British Psychological Society Work-Life Balance working group, the US-based Work and Family Researchers Network, the Digital Sociologist and digital mindfulness blogs, to the Institute of Engineering and Technology); publicly available resources from a Working Paper series on daily life, digital technology and energy demand, to a 'Microboundary' strategy booklet; increased media coverage and public awareness of events discussing switching off during leisure time, and legislation on the use of email; videos exploring work-life boundaries; and a number of ongoing collaborative follow-on activities.
Exploitation Route There are a number of ongoing activities which have been initiated and/or supported through Balance Network activities, which are expected to produce further outputs in the short and medium term. These include:
- additional academic publications papers on: microboundaries (led by Marta Cecchinato); life-swapping personal data (Dr Anya Skatova); work life balance of IT workers (Dr Penny Hart); interdisciplinary research questions related to digital lives (Dr Rosie Robison)
- a collaborative bid on balancing work & military spouse life in the digital age (led by Dr Lisa Wood)
- presentations and workshops at the CHI 2017 conference on 'Designing for Ambivalence' (led by Paulina Yurman) and 'Quantified Data and Social Relationships' (Dr Rowanne Fleck)
- policy papers on digi housework (led by Prof Gillian Symon), and ICT skills and online platforms for social inclusion (Dr Sally-Anne Barnes)
The network culminated in a 1-day academic workshop in January 2017 with representatives involved in the digital economy strand of three UK Research Councils (AHRC, EPSRC, and ESRC). This stimulating workshop helped feed into the current programme of events being undertaken by the ESRC on 'Ways of Being in a Digital Age', with future funding opportunities expected. The Balance Network and its members are well-placed to be involved in such projects.
Sectors Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Energy,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism
URL http://www.balancenetwork.org.uk/
 
Description Digital lives 10 Jan 2017 workshop, linked to ESRC Ways of Being in a Digital Age review
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
URL https://waysofbeingdigital.com/
 
Description iWARDs
Amount £2,832 (GBP)
Organisation University College London 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2018 
End 04/2018
 
Description Bournemouth University 
Organisation Bournemouth University
Department Department of Tourism & Hospitality
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution - The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) used in this collaboration. - The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website. - Press for the activities has included multiple interviews with the Balance Network's PI, Rosie Robison, including http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/65-rosie-robisons-new-years-resolutions and http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/57-rosie-robisons-work-life-week-interview. An article about the activities was also included in issue seven of the Global Sustainability Institute twice-yearly "So What?" publication: http://www.anglia.ac.uk/global-sustainability-institute-gsi/publications. - All of the activities will be highlighted at Balance Network's Beyond Balance conference in June 2016, which will be discussed separately.
Collaborator Contribution 'Going off the grid': Can employees really switch off during travel? Bournemouth University brought together nearly 150 academics, tourism, technology and HR professionals, students and the public at a one-day workshop on 9 March 2016, in Bournemouth. The conference asked: "What happens if 'going off the grid' is no longer an option in our hyper-connected and work-centred lifestyles?" Speakers included Prof Dimitrios Buhalis, Dr Zornitza Yovcheva and Dr Juliet Jain who debated changed work life balance realities and the wider challenges and expectations towards connectivity of employees in a digital world.
Impact 'Going off the grid' - Disciplines: business, management, tourism, health (mental) This activity led to further collaborative activities in Dec 2016 / Jan 2017, resulting in a conference paper.
Start Year 2015
 
Description Coventry University 
Organisation Coventry University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution - The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) use in this collaboration. - The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website. - Press for the activities has included multiple interviews with the Balance Network's PI, Rosie Robison, including http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/65-rosie-robisons-new-years-resolutions and http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/57-rosie-robisons-work-life-week-interview. An article about the activities was also included in issue seven of the Global Sustainability Institute twice-yearly "So What?" publication: http://www.anglia.ac.uk/global-sustainability-institute-gsi/publications. - All of the activities will be highlighted at Balance Network's Beyond Balance conference in June 2016, which will be discussed separately.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Christine Grant of Coventry University and Prof. Gail Kinman of University of Bedfordshire will co-host a conference on e-resilience on April 21 in London. The conference will explore how technology can impact on resilience and well-being in individuals, supervisors and organisations and the implications for families and communities.
Impact A trans-disciplinary approach to building e-resilience - Disciplines: health (mental), psychology, ICT
Start Year 2015
 
Description Coventry University 
Organisation University of Bedfordshire
Department Department of Psychology
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution - The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) use in this collaboration. - The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website. - Press for the activities has included multiple interviews with the Balance Network's PI, Rosie Robison, including http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/65-rosie-robisons-new-years-resolutions and http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/57-rosie-robisons-work-life-week-interview. An article about the activities was also included in issue seven of the Global Sustainability Institute twice-yearly "So What?" publication: http://www.anglia.ac.uk/global-sustainability-institute-gsi/publications. - All of the activities will be highlighted at Balance Network's Beyond Balance conference in June 2016, which will be discussed separately.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Christine Grant of Coventry University and Prof. Gail Kinman of University of Bedfordshire will co-host a conference on e-resilience on April 21 in London. The conference will explore how technology can impact on resilience and well-being in individuals, supervisors and organisations and the implications for families and communities.
Impact A trans-disciplinary approach to building e-resilience - Disciplines: health (mental), psychology, ICT
Start Year 2015
 
Description Goldsmiths, University of London 
Organisation Goldsmiths, University of London
Department Department of Psychology
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) used in this collaboration. The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website.
Collaborator Contribution Conversation pieces. Goldsmiths College ran short, two-hour morning workshops sessions on 12 and 13 December 2016 in London. Design-led activities and design proposals that interpret tensions and ambivalences brought by the smartphone in families with young children as it blurs the boundaries between work and play, were used to stimulate dialogues about its role in family life.
Impact Two Conversation Pieces workshops.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Goldsmiths, University of London 
Organisation Goldsmiths, University of London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution - The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) use in this collaboration. - The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website. - Press for the activities has included multiple interviews with the Balance Network's PI, Rosie Robison, including http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/65-rosie-robisons-new-years-resolutions and http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/57-rosie-robisons-work-life-week-interview. An article about the activities was also included in issue seven of the Global Sustainability Institute twice-yearly "So What?" publication: http://www.anglia.ac.uk/global-sustainability-institute-gsi/publications. - All of the activities will be highlighted at Balance Network's Beyond Balance conference in June 2016, which will be discussed separately.
Collaborator Contribution On 17 February in London, Paulina Yurman, PhD student at Goldsmiths hosted a Design-Led workshop exploring our complex relationship with technologies that blur the lines between domestic and work life. Paulina focused on themes that have implications in gender politics, as the management of the domestic space and family life may still prevail as a feminine domain. Her workshop brought together researchers and practitioners from design, HCI and social sciences disciplines.
Impact Material Desires - Disciplines: design, arts, gender studies
Start Year 2015
 
Description Institution of Engineering and Technology 
Organisation Institution of Engineering and Technology
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution - We contributed to an IET House of Lords reception in Nov 2015. - We are organising a co-hosted event, with the IET: a one-day symposium called 'Beyond Balance' on new ways of understanding and exploring our 'work-life balance' (WLB) in the digital age. - Feeding into the work of the IET's communications and IT policy panels.
Collaborator Contribution - The IET is co-hosting our June 2016 event at their Savoy Place headquarters, providing the venue at their internal rate. - The IET's president Naomi Climer will welcome Beyond Balance attendees at the beginning of the conference. - Meetings with the IET's communications and IT policy panels to discuss feeding in policy-related research from Network members.
Impact - Invitation to speak at a Women in Engineering Sciences event
Start Year 2015
 
Description Lancaster University 
Organisation Lancaster University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) used in this collaboration. The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website.
Collaborator Contribution Dr Lisa Wood of Lancaster University led this collaborative bid-writing meeting held in Northamptonshire on 19 December 2016, supported by Tracy Hauver of the University of Liverpool, which aimed to explore the role of digital connectivity in the context of hypermobile military lives, with a view to developing future research projects.
Impact Collaborative bid-writing meeting. Disciplines: STS, public health.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Lancaster University 
Organisation University of Liverpool
Department Rock Deformation Laboratory
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) used in this collaboration. The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website.
Collaborator Contribution Dr Lisa Wood of Lancaster University led this collaborative bid-writing meeting held in Northamptonshire on 19 December 2016, supported by Tracy Hauver of the University of Liverpool, which aimed to explore the role of digital connectivity in the context of hypermobile military lives, with a view to developing future research projects.
Impact Collaborative bid-writing meeting. Disciplines: STS, public health.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Loughborough University 
Organisation Loughborough University
Department School of Business and Economics
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution - The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) used in this collaboration. - The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website. - Press for the activities has included multiple interviews with the Balance Network's PI, Rosie Robison, including http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/65-rosie-robisons-new-years-resolutions and http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/57-rosie-robisons-work-life-week-interview. An article about the activities was also included in issue seven of the Global Sustainability Institute twice-yearly "So What?" publication: http://www.anglia.ac.uk/global-sustainability-institute-gsi/publications. - All of the activities will be highlighted at Balance Network's Beyond Balance conference in June 2016, which will be discussed separately.
Collaborator Contribution Business Travel, Mobile ICTs and work-life balance: Day Workshop and Research Network Building On 13 April at The Wesley, Central London, Loughborough University and the University of Bristol will host a one-day event that considers how the use of mobile ICTs by mobile workers, when undertaking work-related journeys, impacts on their work life balance. Confirmed speakers include Prof John Urry, Dr Anne Aguiléra, Prof Glenn Lyons.
Impact Business Travel, Mobile ICTs and work-life balance - Disciplines: business, management, mobility
Start Year 2015
 
Description Loughborough University 
Organisation University of Bristol
Department School of Economics, Finance and Management
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution - The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) used in this collaboration. - The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website. - Press for the activities has included multiple interviews with the Balance Network's PI, Rosie Robison, including http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/65-rosie-robisons-new-years-resolutions and http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/57-rosie-robisons-work-life-week-interview. An article about the activities was also included in issue seven of the Global Sustainability Institute twice-yearly "So What?" publication: http://www.anglia.ac.uk/global-sustainability-institute-gsi/publications. - All of the activities will be highlighted at Balance Network's Beyond Balance conference in June 2016, which will be discussed separately.
Collaborator Contribution Business Travel, Mobile ICTs and work-life balance: Day Workshop and Research Network Building On 13 April at The Wesley, Central London, Loughborough University and the University of Bristol will host a one-day event that considers how the use of mobile ICTs by mobile workers, when undertaking work-related journeys, impacts on their work life balance. Confirmed speakers include Prof John Urry, Dr Anne Aguiléra, Prof Glenn Lyons.
Impact Business Travel, Mobile ICTs and work-life balance - Disciplines: business, management, mobility
Start Year 2015
 
Description Open University 
Organisation Open University
Department Business School
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution - The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) used in this collaboration. - The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website. - Press for the activities has included multiple interviews with the Balance Network's PI, Rosie Robison, including http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/65-rosie-robisons-new-years-resolutions and http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/57-rosie-robisons-work-life-week-interview. An article about the activities was also included in issue seven of the Global Sustainability Institute twice-yearly "So What?" publication: http://www.anglia.ac.uk/global-sustainability-institute-gsi/publications. - All of the activities will be highlighted at Balance Network's Beyond Balance conference in June 2016, which will be discussed separately.
Collaborator Contribution Led by Dr. Helen Roby of the Open University and Dr. Gillian Symon of Royal Holloway University, the cross-disciplinary, multi-university Digital Brain Switch (DBS) will be producing and launching two videos as a long lasting resource from the project. These will include new footage with the team as well as potentially drawing from the video diaries, reflective commentaries and interactive media which was generated during the project.
Impact Videos (listed under artistic outputs). Digital Brain Switch - Disciplines: psychology, sociology, business/management, health, HCI/social marketing This activity led to further collaborative activities in January 2017, when the Balance Network supported aspects of a workshop with social entrepreneurs, and the writing of a policy paper.
Start Year 2015
 
Description Open University 
Organisation Royal Holloway, University of London
Department School of Management
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution - The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) used in this collaboration. - The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website. - Press for the activities has included multiple interviews with the Balance Network's PI, Rosie Robison, including http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/65-rosie-robisons-new-years-resolutions and http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/57-rosie-robisons-work-life-week-interview. An article about the activities was also included in issue seven of the Global Sustainability Institute twice-yearly "So What?" publication: http://www.anglia.ac.uk/global-sustainability-institute-gsi/publications. - All of the activities will be highlighted at Balance Network's Beyond Balance conference in June 2016, which will be discussed separately.
Collaborator Contribution Led by Dr. Helen Roby of the Open University and Dr. Gillian Symon of Royal Holloway University, the cross-disciplinary, multi-university Digital Brain Switch (DBS) will be producing and launching two videos as a long lasting resource from the project. These will include new footage with the team as well as potentially drawing from the video diaries, reflective commentaries and interactive media which was generated during the project.
Impact Videos (listed under artistic outputs). Digital Brain Switch - Disciplines: psychology, sociology, business/management, health, HCI/social marketing This activity led to further collaborative activities in January 2017, when the Balance Network supported aspects of a workshop with social entrepreneurs, and the writing of a policy paper.
Start Year 2015
 
Description Sheffield Hallam University 
Organisation Sheffield Hallam University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) used in this collaboration. The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website. Representatives of the Balance Network core team attended the event.
Collaborator Contribution Managing technology: design challenges. Sheffield Hallam University ran a series of interviews in Autumn 2016, followed by a design workshop on 13 December in Sheffield featuring a keynote presentation from Prof Susanne Bødker of Aarhus University. At the workshop participants helped create technology concepts to support work and home lives, and an interest group on work-life technology design was established.
Impact Managing technology: design challenges, one day workshop. Disciplines: Communication, Design, Human-Computer Interaction.
Start Year 2016
 
Description University College London 
Organisation University College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) used in this collaboration. The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website.
Collaborator Contribution Microboundaries: participatory study. Through their study of the use of 'microboundaries', University College London looked into how awareness cues (such as read receipts, or 'last seen online') are used by workers to create microboundaries that limit the negative effects of work-life crossovers (like being interrupted by notifications). Participants of their study undertook a two-week diary study in November 2016 and took part in intervention workshops held in London on 1, 3 and 5 December 2016, and January 2017.
Impact Microboundaries: participatory study.
Start Year 2016
 
Description University of Birmingham 
Organisation University College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution - The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) use in this collaboration. - The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website. - Press for the activities has included multiple interviews with the Balance Network's PI, Rosie Robison, including http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/65-rosie-robisons-new-years-resolutions and http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/57-rosie-robisons-work-life-week-interview. An article about the activities was also included in issue seven of the Global Sustainability Institute twice-yearly "So What?" publication: http://www.anglia.ac.uk/global-sustainability-institute-gsi/publications. - All of the activities will be highlighted at Balance Network's Beyond Balance conference in June 2016, which will be discussed separately.
Collaborator Contribution Colleagues from University of Birmingham, UCL, and University of Nottingham - led by Birmingham's Dr. Rowanne Fleck who collaborated on the Digital Epiphanies project - will hold one interactive workshop at each partner university between February and April. The sessions will explore how sharing personal data collected by technology is a way people can swap life routines with others, and has huge potential to enable people to gain new insights into their own and others' experiences. Participants will bring along and share a variety of personal data to explore different aspects of work-life balance.
Impact Life-Swap Workshops - Disciplines: human-computer interaction, psychology, ICT
Start Year 2015
 
Description University of Birmingham 
Organisation University of Birmingham
Department School of Computer Science
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution - The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) use in this collaboration. - The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website. - Press for the activities has included multiple interviews with the Balance Network's PI, Rosie Robison, including http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/65-rosie-robisons-new-years-resolutions and http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/57-rosie-robisons-work-life-week-interview. An article about the activities was also included in issue seven of the Global Sustainability Institute twice-yearly "So What?" publication: http://www.anglia.ac.uk/global-sustainability-institute-gsi/publications. - All of the activities will be highlighted at Balance Network's Beyond Balance conference in June 2016, which will be discussed separately.
Collaborator Contribution Colleagues from University of Birmingham, UCL, and University of Nottingham - led by Birmingham's Dr. Rowanne Fleck who collaborated on the Digital Epiphanies project - will hold one interactive workshop at each partner university between February and April. The sessions will explore how sharing personal data collected by technology is a way people can swap life routines with others, and has huge potential to enable people to gain new insights into their own and others' experiences. Participants will bring along and share a variety of personal data to explore different aspects of work-life balance.
Impact Life-Swap Workshops - Disciplines: human-computer interaction, psychology, ICT
Start Year 2015
 
Description University of Birmingham 
Organisation University of Nottingham
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution - The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) use in this collaboration. - The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website. - Press for the activities has included multiple interviews with the Balance Network's PI, Rosie Robison, including http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/65-rosie-robisons-new-years-resolutions and http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/57-rosie-robisons-work-life-week-interview. An article about the activities was also included in issue seven of the Global Sustainability Institute twice-yearly "So What?" publication: http://www.anglia.ac.uk/global-sustainability-institute-gsi/publications. - All of the activities will be highlighted at Balance Network's Beyond Balance conference in June 2016, which will be discussed separately.
Collaborator Contribution Colleagues from University of Birmingham, UCL, and University of Nottingham - led by Birmingham's Dr. Rowanne Fleck who collaborated on the Digital Epiphanies project - will hold one interactive workshop at each partner university between February and April. The sessions will explore how sharing personal data collected by technology is a way people can swap life routines with others, and has huge potential to enable people to gain new insights into their own and others' experiences. Participants will bring along and share a variety of personal data to explore different aspects of work-life balance.
Impact Life-Swap Workshops - Disciplines: human-computer interaction, psychology, ICT
Start Year 2015
 
Description University of Hull 
Organisation University of Hull
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) used in this collaboration. The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website.
Collaborator Contribution Digital scholars in a mobile world: symposium exploring work-life balance in academic life. The University of Hull led this one-day symposium held on 14 December 2016 in Hull bringing together UK-based early career academics working across higher education research, academic mobility and new/digital technologies in professional contexts. Participants shared current research and work to develop future collaborations. Speakers at the event were academics from Universität Siegen, the Open University, the University of Warwick and the University of Bedfordshire.
Impact One-day symposium exploring work-life balance in academic life. Disciplines: education, sociology, media and cultural studies, modern languages, computing and nursing.
Start Year 2016
 
Description University of Nottingham 
Organisation University of Nottingham
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) used in this collaboration. The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website. Members of the Balance Network core team attended this activity.
Collaborator Contribution Smart objects for a healthier office: Nottingham University invited stakeholders and researchers interested in workplace health to a half-day workshop in Nottingham on 19 October 2016 to co-design novel behaviour change interventions which use 'smart', digitally augmented, office objects. A range of prototyping techniques (e.g. ideation card, sketches, plug-and-play sensors) were introduced to participants to facilitate collaborative thinking around the issue.
Impact Smart objects for a healthier office workshop. Disciplines: computer science, human computer interaction, sociology, occupational health, architecture, communication, physics.
Start Year 2016
 
Description University of Portsmouth 
Organisation University of Portsmouth
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) used in this collaboration. The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website. Members of the Balance Network core team attended the event in Portsmouth. The keynote speaker at both events was invited through Balance Network connections.
Collaborator Contribution Work-life balance in the IT profession: seminar with the British Computer Society. Academics from the University of Portsmouth are part of the international World IT project and on 7 December 2016 held a seminar in Portsmouth (co-hosted with the British Computer Society) to get input on analysing the project's extensive survey of IT professionals, which captured cultural and contextual differences across the technology workforce, from a work-life balance perspective. They held a further BCS seminar on 18 January 2017.
Impact Work-life balance in the IT profession: seminar with the British Computer Society.
Start Year 2016
 
Description University of Sheffield 
Organisation University of Sheffield
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution - The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) used in this collaboration. - The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website. - Press for the activities has included multiple interviews with the Balance Network's PI, Rosie Robison, including http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/65-rosie-robisons-new-years-resolutions and http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/57-rosie-robisons-work-life-week-interview. An article about the activities was also included in issue seven of the Global Sustainability Institute twice-yearly "So What?" publication: http://www.anglia.ac.uk/global-sustainability-institute-gsi/publications. - All of the activities will be highlighted at Balance Network's Beyond Balance conference in June 2016, which will be discussed separately.
Collaborator Contribution Rhythms, routines and relationships: Daily life, digital technologies and energy demand Rachel Macrorie (University of Sheffield), PhD Candidate Faye Wade (UCL), and Dr. Kathryn Buchanan's (University of Essex) hosted a working party in November 2015. Working papers and a webinar series are being produced amongst attendees of the working party.
Impact Rhythms, routines and relationships - Disciplines: sociology, psychology, environmental social sciences, HCI
Start Year 2015
 
Description University of Warwick 
Organisation Loughborough University
Department Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) used in this collaboration. The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website.
Collaborator Contribution ICT skills for social inclusion: workshop and policy paper. The University of Warwick, supported by Loughborough University, held an afternoon workshop on 28 November 2016 in Coventry with experts and local and national policymakers as part of their project to develop an evidence-based paper focusing on the skills and attributes needed to successfully gain and sustain work via online platforms.
Impact ICT skills for social inclusion workshop.
Start Year 2016
 
Description University of Warwick 
Organisation University of Warwick
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) used in this collaboration. The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website.
Collaborator Contribution ICT skills for social inclusion: workshop and policy paper. The University of Warwick, supported by Loughborough University, held an afternoon workshop on 28 November 2016 in Coventry with experts and local and national policymakers as part of their project to develop an evidence-based paper focusing on the skills and attributes needed to successfully gain and sustain work via online platforms.
Impact ICT skills for social inclusion workshop.
Start Year 2016
 
Description University of Warwick 
Organisation University of Warwick
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution - The Balance Network funded the resources (not staff time) used in this collaboration. - The Balance Network has led conference calls, produced PR and advertising materials, and promoted all activities in its newsletter and website. - Press for the activities has included multiple interviews with the Balance Network's PI, Rosie Robison, including http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/65-rosie-robisons-new-years-resolutions and http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/news/item/57-rosie-robisons-work-life-week-interview. An article about the activities was also included in issue seven of the Global Sustainability Institute twice-yearly "So What?" publication: http://www.anglia.ac.uk/global-sustainability-institute-gsi/publications. - All of the activities will be highlighted at Balance Network's Beyond Balance conference in June 2016, which will be discussed separately.
Collaborator Contribution Prolonging working life through ICT: the role of crowdsourcing Dr. Sally-Anne Barnes, University of Warwick, hosted a seminar in Coventry on 3 March 2016. The session explored how crowdsourcing has changed the boundary between work and home, enabling older people to achieve new work-life balance and remain part of the labour force. The event will act as a knowledge exchange between academics, policy-makers and stakeholders in the industry around evaluating and supporting this opportunity to extend working lives through ICT.
Impact Prolonging working life through ICT - Disciplines: business, management, health (ageing), ICT. This activity led onto a second Balance Network funded activity in 2016 (covered by a separate collaboration agreement).
Start Year 2015
 
Description A recipe for work-life balance in the digital age 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Invited talk for NORTHLab seminar series.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Anglia Ruskin University's Research and Innovation Office - 9 November 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The Communications Coordinator of the Balance Network gave a presentation to Anglia Ruskin University's Research and Innovation Office in November 2016 introducing the Balance Network and its members and to talk about the networks' past activities and upcoming events.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Balance Network Monthly Bulletin 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Each month, the Balance Network sends an email to all members regarding work-life balance in the digital age. Sub-topics in the bulletin are typically: upcoming events, funding opportunities, and recent publications. We have also used the bulletin to promote other WLB networks, journalists who are looking for academics to interview for upcoming articles, encourage Balance Network meet-ups at conferences, etc. The mailing list has grown from 40 in Jul 2015 to 180 in Feb 2016, and new names are added each month via word-of-mouth. The newsletter drives traffic to our website, and for example, we had over 2600 visits to our funding pages in 3 months and over1500 to our Beyond Balance pages in 5 months. Although the mailing list goes out to academics, its reach is significantly wider than this.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014,2015,2016
URL http://www.balancenetwork.org.uk/bulletins/
 
Description Beyond Balance: One-Day Symposium, London, 27 June 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This one-day event was the major conference for the Balance Network. We had two keynote speakers, Oliver Burkeman and Claire Fox, who are authors on the topic of WLB, as well as 16 universities presenting / leading interactive activities with attendees. The Balance Network has produced the advertising and PR for the event, as well as all of the speaker logistics. The event was be open to researchers, postgraduate students, businesses, technology developers, policymakers, HR professionals, flexible workers, entrepreneurs and the media. There were specific networking activities to encourage cross-disciplinary discussion.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/events/item/52-beyond-balance
 
Description British Antarctic Survey Journeys in Science - Cambridge, 14 June 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Interactive talk given by the PI of the Balance Network working with the Women in Science Group at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge on 14 June 2016 as part of a programme of talks and events called 'Journeys in Science' aimed at raising awareness among staff of the main challenges and learning points that scientists face on a professional and personal level to achieve a successful career. This talk provided a discussion of some of the latest thinking in this area relating to digital technologies and work-life balance, and highlighted some of the contrasts between academic research and practice.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Business Travel, Mobile ICTs and Work Life Balance: 13 Apr 2016, London 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact On 13 April at The Wesley, Central London, Loughborough University and the University of Bristol hosted this one-day event that considered how the use of mobile ICTs by mobile workers, when undertaking work-related journeys, impacts on their work life balance. Speakers included Prof Glenn Lyons and Prof James Faulconbridge.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.balancenetwork.org.uk/activities/business-travel/
 
Description Cambridge TV - December 2015 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The Principal Investigator of the Balance Network was interviewed for Cambridge TV in December 2015 where she discussed issues surrounding technology and work-life balance and introduced the Balance Network and its upcoming activities.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.cambridge-tv.co.uk/dr-rosie-robison-balance-network/
 
Description Cambridge TV - September 2015 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The Principal Investigator of the Balance Network was interviewed on Cambridge TV in September 2016 where she discussed being a working mother, how technology is impacting people's work-life balance and introduced the Balance Network.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.cambridge-tv.co.uk/work-life-balance/
 
Description Conversation pieces: two-hour workshop sessions, London, 12 and 13 December, 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact Conversation pieces. Goldsmiths College ran short, two-hour morning workshops sessions on 12 and 13 December 2016 in London. Design-led activities and design proposals that interpret tensions and ambivalences brought by the smartphone in families with young children as it blurs the boundaries between work and play, were used to stimulate dialogues about its role in family life.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://conversationpiecesweb.wordpress.com/
 
Description Cumbria Social Entrepreneurs Partnership workshop on work-life boundary management 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Gillian Symon led a workshop at based on the DBS project, linked to outputs from the Balance Network collaboration
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.secumbria.org/work-life-social-enterprise-wheres-the-boundary/
 
Description Design-led Inquiry for Mobile Lives, CHI workshop, May 2015 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact In May 2015, held at the ACM CHI conference on 19th April 2015, the workshop, entitled Design Led Inquiry for Mobile Lives, brought together design researchers and practitioners from a number of fields to explore the role of design led inquiry in addressing the challenges and opportunities brought on by new patterns of mobile living and working.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://openlab.ncl.ac.uk/mlives/
 
Description Digital Mindfulness talk and podcast 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The PI of the Balance Network was interviewed by Digital Mindfulness which was recorded, generating an online podcast. The talk provided audience members with; an overview of the technology and work-life balance landscape including current literature in the field, an introduction to the Balance Network's events and activities, a discussion of workplace technology interventions and a prompt to reflect on personal preferences and encouragement to spark conversations about work-life balance and technology.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://soundcloud.com/digital-mindfulness/twb-rosie-robison/s-Pfpcr
 
Description Digital Platforms for the Collaborative Economies Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This COST workshop focussed on digital platforms seen as enabler of the collaborative economy. We considered the relation of design and politics in the wider socio-technical context in which these platforms operate and deepen its understanding as a CSCW phenomenon. The issues proposed for discussion were related to business models, data ownership and use, motivations driving the design of digital platforms and their impact on the various actors involved. Through a series of practical activities in small groups, we aimed to encourage reflection on the use of CSCW theoretical concepts for highlighting particularities of the types of activities, cooperation, tools, or processes around using or developing these platforms.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://sharingandcaring.eu/event/cost-workshop-digital-platforms-28-august-2017
 
Description Digital lives: new ways of working and living - Interdisciplinary workshop on future research directions, Cambridge, 10 January 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Digital lives: new ways of working and living - Interdisciplinary workshop on future research directions. This workshop, held in Cambridge on 10 January 2017 introduced a number of senior academics, and representatives involved in the digital directions of 3 UK research councils (EPSRC, ESRC, AHRC) to the Balance Network, and facilitated discussions about future directions for research with a digital focus. This was linked to the ESRC's "Ways of Being in a Digital Age" priority area.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Digital scholars in a mobile world: symposium exploring work-life balance in academic life. Hull, 14 December 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Digital scholars in a mobile world: symposium exploring work-life balance in academic life. The University of Hull led this one-day symposium held on 14 December 2016 in Hull bringing together UK-based early career academics working across higher education research, academic mobility and new/digital technologies in professional contexts. Participants shared current research and work to develop future collaborations. Speakers at the event were academics from Universität Siegen, the Open University, the University of Warwick and the University of Bedfordshire.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www2.hull.ac.uk/ifl/research/conferencesandworkshops/digitalscholarssymposium.aspx
 
Description Going off the grid: Can employees really switch off during travel? Bournemouth University, March 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Programme: A series of cutting-edge presentations followed by an interactive panel discussion.

This workshop aimed to open a debate on changed work life balance realities in a digital world. It engaged academics, tourism, technology and HR professionals, students and the public in a dialogue about the wider challenges and expectations towards connectivity of employees in the context of travel.

Overview:
Technologies have had a massive impact on society and transformed how we work, live and experience travel. Social and mobile technologies have particularly enabled people to connect on an unprecedented scale, with any device, anywhere and at any time. While technologies enhance our professional and private lives in numerous ways, there is increasing evidence that people are no longer 'switching off'. Leisure travel, grounded in the motivation of escapism and the reversal of everyday life, has traditionally had the purpose to switch off, refresh and restore body and mind. What happens however if 'going off the grid' is no longer an option in our hyper-connected and work-centred lifestyles?
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/events/item/67-going-off-the-grid-can-employees-reall...
 
Description ICT skills for social inclusion: workshop and policy paper, Coventry 28 November 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact ICT skills for social inclusion: workshop and policy paper. The University of Warwick and Loughborough University held an afternoon workshop on 28 November 2016 in Coventry with experts and local and national policymakers as part of their project to develop an evidence-based paper focusing on the skills and attributes needed to successfully gain and sustain work via online platforms.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/roundtable-event-ict-skills-and-online-platforms-for-social-inclusion...
 
Description Life-Swap Workshops - University of Nottingham, Feb 2016, University of Birmingham, Apr 2016, UCL, July 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact There now exists an application or device that can monitor almost any aspect of our lives. However, there is still work needed to understand better how to support people in making sense of and reflecting on their captured data. We argue that sharing personal data is a way people can swap life routines with others, and has huge potential to enable people to gain new insights into their own and others' experiences. This project involved a series of personal/life-data swap workshops from February - July 2016 during which participants shared a variety of personal data to explore different aspects of work-life balance.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://digitalboundariesresearch.wordpress.com/home/life-swap-boundaries/
 
Description Managing technology: design challenges. Sheffield, 13 December, 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Managing technology: design challenges. Sheffield Hallam University ran a series of interviews in Autumn 2016, followed by a design workshop on 13 December in Sheffield featuring a keynote presentation from an academic at Aarhus University. At the workshop participants helped create technology concepts to support work and home lives, and an interest group on work-life technology design was established.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/managing-technology-around-work-and-life-registration-29248195139
 
Description Material Desires: Design-Led Explorations of the Home/Work Divide - Goldsmiths, February 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This design-led workshop explored technologies that blur the separation of home and work life, aiming to identify themes that have implications for gender politics, as the management of domestic space and family life is still largely perceived as a feminine concern. Attendees worked together to produce design proposals that give materiality to gender differences in the ways we use technology for separating or integrating home and work life. Using sketches, collages, or low-fidelity modelling, these might deal with the complex interweaving of identities (e.g. as worker and mother), while others might address the ways we use the same technologies for work, socialising, domestic planning and play.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://designledexplorations.wordpress.com/
 
Description Microboundaries: participatory study: individual diary studies and intervention workshops, London, 1, 3, 5 December 2016, and January 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact Academics from UCL invited participants to partake in a two-week diary study and intervention workshops held in London on 1, 3 and 5 December 2016, and January 2017, for their study on the use of 'microboundaries'. They are looking into how awareness cues (such as read receipts, or 'last seen online') are used by workers to create microboundaries that limit the negative effects of work-life cross-overs (like being interrupted by notifications).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016,2017
URL https://digitalboundariesresearch.wordpress.com/
 
Description Organisations + Change seminar, 27 Jan 2017, Cambridge 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact From Corporate Social Responsibility to digital revolutions, organisations are constantly having to respond to, and also instigate, change. What are the issues they
are facing, how do they approach change, and what impact does it all have on their employees and working towards sustainability? This panel discussion, co-hosted by the GSI and the Lord Ashcroft International Business School, brought together three speakers from a range of disciplinary perspectives to discuss some of the issues and respond to audience questions. Speakers: • Dr Rebecca Whiting (Birkbeck, University of London) • Deniz Seebacher (University of Vienna) • Megan Meredith (Tavistock Centre)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Prolonging working life through ICT: the role of crowdsourcing - University of Warwick, March 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact One day seminar exploring how crowdsourcing is enabling people, especially older workers, to remain part of the labour force.

Overview
The development of a fast and reliable internet, new technologies, new online payment systems and changes in work structure have driven a shift to new forms of labour exchange such as the outsourcing of work online or 'crowdsourcing'. The one day seminar explored how crowdsourcing has changed the boundary between work and home, enabling older people to remain part of the labour force and perhaps achieve a new work-life balance.

The aims of the seminar were to:
•Foster interdisciplinary dialogue by bringing together key stakeholders to debate issues of work-life balance, crowdsourcing and prolonged work life
•Contribute to future research that would examine crowdsourcing from a worker perspective to inform policy.

The seminar:
•Examined if, and how, crowdsourcing has changed the boundary between work and home;
•Explored current understandings of the role technology can play in achieving and/or disrupting work-life balance;
•Identified enablers and barriers to engaging in internet-enabled work and achieving a balance;
•Determined whether opportunities for paid work through crowdsourcing platforms offer a way to achieve a better balance in a prolonged working life.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/events/item/68-prolonging-working-life-through-ict-th...
 
Description Rhythms, routines and relationships: Daily life, digital technologies and energy demand - University of Sheffield, Nov 2015 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact A series of collaborative activities will be undertaken between the Balance Network and the Practices, the Built Environment and Sustainability (PBES) network, together with representatives from policy, industry and the third sector. The activities were launched at an interdisciplinary working party in November 2015 and will include a discursive webinar series to progressively co-examine the changing rhythms, routines and relationships associated with increasing adoption of digital technologies into domestic and work practices, and their implications for patterns of energy demand. These activities will generate a collection of co-authored working papers in relation to the following sub-themes:
1) Temporality, rhythms and patterns of practice
2) Smart, monitored and automated everyday life
3) Re-organising the dynamics of energy demand
4) Governance, management and control
5) Research and applied methods for addressing these issues.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015,2016
URL http://balancenetwork.bimserver2.com/index.php/events/item/59-rhythms-routines-and-relationships
 
Description Smart objects for a healthier office: half-day workshop, Nottingham, 19 October 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Academics from Nottingham University invited stakeholders and researchers interested in workplace health to co-design novel behaviour change interventions which use 'smart', digitally augmented, office objects in this half-day workshop held on 19 October in Nottingham. A range of rough prototyping techniques (e.g. ideation card, sketches, plug-and-play sensors) were introduced to and used by participants to facilitate collaborative thinking around the issue.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/mixedrealitylab/events/co-designing-smart-objects-for-h...
 
Description Three cafes: A trio of artistic interventions, Cambridge, 23, 28 November 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Anglia Ruskin lead a trio of experimental interventions in cafes around Cambridge. The themed afternoon and evening workshops that took place on the 23 and 28 November 2016 entitled 'Refusal of technology', 'Embracing technology' and 'Discussion and Coproduction' facilitated open discussion and got participants thinking differently.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://www.eventbrite.com/e/three-cafes-cafe-1-lift-off-tickets-29385395509
 
Description Women's Engineering Society - 22 April 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The Communications Coordinator of the Balance Network gave a presentation to the Women's Engineering Society in April 2016 introducing the Balance Network and its members and to talk about the networks' past activities and upcoming events.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Work-life balance in the IT profession: seminar with the British Computer Society, Portsmouth, 7 December, 2016 and Southampton, 18 January 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Work-life balance in the IT profession: seminar with the British Computer Society. Academics from the University of Portsmouth are part of the international World IT project and on 7 December 2016 / 18 January 2017, held seminars in Portsmouth / Southampton to get input on analysing the project's extensive survey of IT professionals, which captured cultural and contextual differences across the technology workforce, from a work-life balance perspective.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016,2017
URL https://www.eventbrite.com/e/work-life-balance-in-the-it-profession-tickets-28582840044#
 
Description e-resilience conference: 21 Apr 2016, Birkbeck, University of London 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The Switched On Culture Research Group (SOCRG) hosted this E-Resilience Conference at Birkbeck, University of London; a vibrant day exploring this important area of research.
At the conference, high profile researchers, practitioners and industry experts spoke about the emerging concept of e-resilience and its application and wide-ranging implications for well-being and performance.
Keynote Speaker: David D'Souza, Head of London CIPD.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://alwaysonculture.wordpress.com/socrg-conference-2016/