Jenny Setchell wins QHR Michael H. Agar Lively Science Award for 2020
Qualitative Health Research has just announced it's Lively Science Award for 2020 and it's been won by Jenny Setchell, one of the founding members of the CPN. Here's the announcement from the journal below. Huge congratulations Jenny!
We are pleased to announce that the Michael H. Agar is being presented to Dr Jenny Setchell, Research Fellow at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Queensland and Bloorview Research Institute, Ontario, Canada, for her article Cheer* in Health care Practice: What it excludes and why it matters published in Qualitative Health Research 29: 13, 2019. (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1049732319838235).
Dr. Setchell explored how clinicians’ positive demeanor and “strengths based” focus can include working to create a cheerful atmosphere in health care environments, cheering for improvements in assessment outcomes, and cheering up clients in situations of decline. Setchell drew from philosopher Karen Barad’s theories of inclusions and exclusions, and investigated what comes to matter (and what is excluded from mattering) when there is cheerfulness, cheering, and so forth (cheer*) in the day-to-day practices of a neuromuscular clinic and what the implications are across health care settings.
Beginning in 2018, the Agar Lively Science Award is given annually by Qualitative Health Research to the authors of the most innovative applied research article published the previous year in the journal. An awards committee consisting of QHR editorial board members Guendalina Graffigna, David Morgan, and Eleanor Holroyd selected this article from over 1200 articles published in QHR in 2019 as the one most representative of Agar’s work.
Michael H. Agar was a well-known applied anthropologist who served many years on the editorial board of Qualitative Health Research. His work ranged widely across anthropology, linguistics, qualitative methods, social theory, cognitive science, and in many applied social and health research domains. It was characterized by innovation and risk-taking, offering provocative critique, evocative writing, and creative solutions to real-world problems through the power of social research. Michael Agar passed on in 2017. The full set of criteria for this award can be found here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1049732317721699.
The journal gives special thanks to Mitchell Allen for his initial work as first Chair of the selection committee, and for his attentive mentorship of this award.
Congratulations to Dr. Setchell for her brilliant article and many thanks to the committee for their diligent work. Mike would have been proud.
Guendalina Graffigna
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
QHR Board Member and Agar Award Committee Chair