Paper short abstract:

This paper investigates research as development outside of its traditional geographical bounds, drawing from experiences working on a collaborative health intervention.

Paper long abstract:

The purpose of this paper will be to investigate research as development outside of its traditional geographical bounds, specifically the low-income area of Sunderland in North East England. I will draw from experiences working on a collaborative health intervention feasibility study, involving a variety of actors: academics, NHS staff, members of charities and public health organisations and participants from deprived communities.

The intervention, aiming to reduce hazardous co-sleeping and contradictory health messages about bed-sharing, involves an educational intervention about safe infant sleep and a novel "safe sleep space" for babies. While acceptability and expansion are common goals of those involved in the study, each individual has specific interests to promote and, ultimately, plays a role in the successes (or failures) of the project. As anthropologists, I argue that we are required to identify, incorporate and balance these potentially conflicting interests in order to pursue "meaningful" collaborative research with a developmental balance, resulting in limitations to the effectiveness of projects outcomes.

Building on the structure of this feasibility study, the paper will present how there is space for innovative anthropological research in England in the evolution of health messages and health care systems at home, despite the constraints. With this in mind, I will also tackle whether or not public health interventions may actually widen inequalities and consider the continued importance of applying anthropology in the local context.