New Things Fund success for Humanities Staff

Congratulations to Dr Giulia Champion (Research Fellow, Department of English) and Dr Aude Campmas (Lecturer in French Studies, Department of Languages, Culture and Linguistics), who have each been selected as winners of the Centre for the South’s New Things Fund.  

The New Things Fund is designed to incubate place-based policy engagement in Southampton and the surrounding region. Supported projects see academics working in partnership with a range of local organisations.  

Dr Champion’s project, ‘Coastal (in)securities: swimming safely through blue heritage on the Isle of Wight’, will see her work with Dr Franklin Nobrega and Swim the Wight CIC to explore methods to protect and maintain the Isle of Wight’s coastal waters as blue spaces for use by communities. The project will combine analysis of microbiological data and qualitative research to inform policy. This will include indications on how to further protect blue heritage on the Isle of Wight, as well as the water health and quality for the physical health and mental wellbeing of the swimmers. 

Dr Campmas will work on her project, ‘Building relationships: priorities, needs and barriers for minoritised communities in accessing support for domestic abuse’, alongside the Portsmouth Abuse and Rape Counselling Service (PARCS). The project will bring together various strands of the local to explore how PARCS and similar services can best work with survivors of domestic abuse and improve inclusivity. By increasing visibility and accessibility of domestic abuse services, and fostering ways of working that build on EDI principles, the project aims to impact policy and practice across the central South via developing and sharing good practice. 
For further information about the Centre for the South, the New Things Fund, and any of the projects funded by this round, contact the Centre for the South at cfts@soton.ac.uk or visit their website.